Connecticut’s Marina Mabrey (4) tries to get in position in Friday night’s WNBA game in Uncasville. (Photo by Brian Babineau/NBAE via Getty Images)
The Connecticut Sun couldn’t land the final punch Friday night against the defending WNBA champion Las Vegas Aces.
The Sun, who led by 15 points earlier in the game, had a four-point lead with 4:12 remaining in the contest but Las Vegas closed out the game with an 11-2 run to beat Connecticut, 72-67 at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville.
Las Vegas (22-12) limited the Sun to one field goal in the final 4:12. In that span, the Sun (24-10) were 1-for-5 from the floor with two turnovers.
Connecticut led by four, 65-61, thanks to a pair of Brionna Jones free throws but Las Vegas’ Kelsey Plum quickly trimmed that lead to one with a three-point shot with 3:57 remaining
The Aces went on to take the lead, 66-65, on a pair of free throws from A’ja Wilson with 2:09 to play. Jones responded with a layup to regain the lead for Connecticut, 67-66, with 1:17 left in the fourth.
Wilson put Las Vegas up for good with a jumper to make it 68-67 with 58.5 seconds left. DiJonai Carrington missed a floating jumper in the lane with 40 seconds remaining and Wilson pulled down the rebound.
Chelsea Gray nailed a dagger three-point field goal with 18.8 second remaining for a 71-67 lead and Wilson sealed the win for Las Vegas with a free-throw with five seconds left in the contest.
When you’re playing for championships and you’re playing against a championship quality team it is a 40 minute consistency (that is needed) and we haven’t found that and it has come back to bite us,” Sun coach Stephanie White said. “I thought there were times we lost our poise and composure and we have to be better. Our defense has been good enough to win ballgames for us, but we have too many lulls offensively.”
Plum led the Aces with 27 points, five rebounds, two assists and one steal. Wilson added 20 points, scoring 15 points in the second half.
Jones led Connecticut for the second time over the last three games with 17 points, six rebounds and one assist. Off the bench, Marina Mabrey added 15 points, two rebounds, four assists, three steals and one block in 29 minutes.
“We just have to be better down the stretch and be more poised in executing our offense,” Jones said. “It begins with taking care of the ball.”
DeWanna Bonner was one-rebound shy of a double-double, rounding out the Sun’s double-digit scorers with 11 points, nine rebounds, one assist and two steal.
Connecticut held the Aces to just 38.5 percent shooting from the floor (26-of-65) but had 19 turnovers, one shy of their season-high, that resulted in 16 points for Las Vegas.
“We’re disappointed we didn’t play up to our potential,” Mabrey said.
With the loss, the Sun slipped to No. 3 in seedings for the WNBA playoffs, one game behind Minnesota (25-9).
“We hurt ourselves at multiple times during the course of the game,” White said. “Sometimes it was offensively, turning the ball over, not executing, not getting the shots, not cutting hard, not moving the ball.
“I thought we played some really good defense but then we would be undisciplined and foul, ball watch and they would cut on us,” she said.
The Sun shot 44.6% (25-56) from the field and struggled from beyond the arc, sinking just three of 16 shots (18.8 percent).
There is little time to mourn over the loss. The Sun head out to the West Coast for a four-game trip next week. They play lowly Los Angeles on Sunday and Tuesday night before heading out to Phoenix on Friday, Sept. 13. They finish the trip on Sunday, Sept. 15 at Las Vegas.
Connecticut concludes the regular season with a pair of home games against Minnesota on Tuesday, Sept. 17 and Chicago on Thursday, Sept. 19.
Notables
- Carrington finished with eight points, six rebounds, one assist, one steal and a career-high two blocks.
- Bonner moved into fourth all-time in games played in WNBA history tonight, tying Tina Thompson (496).
- The Sun held the Aces to 26.5% (9/34) from the floor in the first half, the lowest shooting percentage they have allowed all season in the first half of play. Their 26 points in the first half also mark their fewest in a half since July 2017.
