Sun’s Mabrey will be out for two-to-four weeks with knee injury

Connecticut’s Marina Mabrey (3) will miss the next two to four weeks with a knee injury, the Connecticut Sun announced on Tuesday. Mabrey hurt her knee against Dallas last Friday. She is defending by Dallas’ Paige Bueckers (5).  (Photo by Joe Buglewicz/Getty Images)

The season isn’t getting any easier for the Connecticut Sun.

The team’s second-leading scorer, Marina Mabrey, will be out for two to four weeks with a knee injury, the team announced on Tuesday. Mabrey, who is averaging 15.2 points a game, hurt her left knee on Friday, June 20 against Dallas.

After scoring 22 points last Sunday against Chicago, Mabrey has scored a total of just 24 points in the last three games, including eight against Dallas. She returned to the game in the second half.

She had eight points against Phoenix and six against Indiana earlier in the week before the Dallas game. But she was Connecticut’s most consistent three-point shooting threat.

Mabrey’s absence will put additional pressure on the young Sun roster that has been struggling all season. Veteran Tina Charles is leading the Sun with 16.1 points a game but had received little help outside of Mabrey and an occasional double-digit scoring effort from other team members.

Olivia Nelson-Ododa is averaging 8.3 points a game while second-year guard Jacy Sheldon is averaging 7.5 points.

The Sun (2-12) will try to snap a season-long six-game losing streak when they take on Las Vegas (6-7) on Wednesday night at 10 p.m., EST, on NBC Boston and NBA-TV.

The Sun have the league’s worst offense, averaging 71.8 points a game and just 6.1 three-point shots a game. The Sun have allowed 87.6 points a game, ranked 13^th out of 14 teams.

“I just hope you get tired of losing and get more competitive,” Charles said last Friday after the Sun dropped a three-point decision to Dallas, who won their third game of the season. “My message was clear and everyone’s thinking about what less they can do, what more they can do to build up the person next to them. … to think less of themselves and what’s best for this (individual) possession.

“That’s just individual. That is just character. How can you handle adversity?

“So, God willing, we can turn it around,” she said. “And you know what? It may not look like a win against the Valkyries or Vegas or Seattle but it is how we’re losing.”

Connecticut’s four-game West Coast road trip began on Sunday night with a 87-63 loss to Golden State despite 14 points from rookie forward Aneesah Morrow and 10 points from Sheldon.

The Sun will be at Seattle (9-5) on Friday night for a 10 p.m. contest on ION (WHCT-26) before heading to Minnesota (12-1) for a 7 p.m. start on Sunday night.

“I can handle losses. I’ve had a bunch in my career,” Charles said. “But it is how (losses) are happening and the effort that is needed. To lose by three (to Dallas), that is just making a choice to not play on defense or on offense against a team that we match up well against, in my opinion.”

Connecticut’s six-game losing streak is their longest since 2016 and one shy of the franchise record of seven in a row, set in 2015 and 2013.