Thomas looks sharp in return to Mohegan Sun Arena, leads Phoenix to win

Phoenix’s Alyssa Thomas, who played her first 11 seasons in the league for Connecticut, takes a pullup jumper in Wednesday night’s win over the Sun.

UNCASVILLE, June 18, 2025 – Alyssa Thomas looked right at home Wednesday night on the floor of the Mohegan Sun Arena. The three-time All-WNBA forward drove to the basket and scored 14 points, pulled down eight rebounds and dished out 11 assists.

The difference this evening was her uniform. She was dressed in the white and purple colors of the visiting Phoenix Mercury.

After 11 seasons with the Connecticut Sun, Thomas made her first visit back as the surprising Mercury won their third straight game with an 83-75 win over the slumping Sun before a crowd of 7,854.

Phoenix is 9-4 and just 2½ games behind Western Conference leader Minnesota. The Mercury won the second game of a four-game road trip in six days. The Sun (2-10) dropped their fourth straight game and have lost five of their last six contests.

Both teams began the season with new rosters. Mercury head coach Nate Tibbets had just three players returning but the one big difference is Thomas, who came to Phoenix in a four-way trade from the Sun in February.

“She is the ultimate winner,” Tibbets said. “She cares about one thing and that is winning. She comes to work each and every day she is super professional we will be good in Phoenix as long as she is there. That is how good she is.”

The Mercury began the game on a roll scoring the first eight points of the game and racing out to a 16-2 lead.

Connecticut cut the lead to 10 late in the second quarter and trailed 48-36 at the half. The Mercury weren’t as sharp as they were in the first half but three times the Sun cut the lead to seven in the fourth quarter and Phoenix answered every single time.

After Olivia Nelson-Ododa hit a jumper from nine feet away to cut the lead to seven with 4:41 left, it was Thomas who found Kitija Laska for a pullup jumper from 16 feet to push the lead back to nine.

Connecticut’s Jacy Sheldon (4) scored all 13 of her points in the second quarter of Wednesday night’s loss to Phoenix.

Connecticut rookie Aneesah Morrow scored a driving layup with 3:21 left but Phoenix responded when Kahleah Cooper hit a three-pointer off an assist from Thomas to push the lead back to 10 with 2:54 left.

The Sun’s Bria Hartley hit a three-point shot with 2:36 left to cut the lead to seven, 77-70 but Cooper drained a three-point shot from 24-feet off another assist from Thomas in the lane with 2:09 to extend the lead to 10.

The Mercury lead was seven with 59 seconds remaining when Lexi Held drained a three-point shot off another assist from Thomas to push the lead back to 10, 83-73.

“There are a lot of people who want to win but there are lot of people who want to score and get numbers,” Tibbets said. “I think the special thing about AT she passes first and she makes the other players around her better.”

Satou Sabally had 12 points for Phoenix while Cooper finished with 13. Held had 14 points, including a pair of three-point shots.

It was an emotional evening for Thomas, who came to Connecticut in 2014. She was drafted No. 4 in the WNBA draft by the New York Liberty and came to the team in a draft-day trade.

In the last six seasons, the Sun were in the WNBA semifinals. In 2019 and 2022, they went to the WNBA finals before losing to Washington in five games (2019) and Las Vegas.

“Definitely emotional,” she said. “I gave this organization everything I had. The fan base was always behind me and supporting everyone. I am super grateful.”

The Sun, who came into the game with the worst offense in the league in terms of scoring and points allowed, were led by Morrow with a career-high 16 points, nine rebounds and three steals and Jacy Sheldon with 13 points, all in a second quarter spurt.

Tina Charles scored just two points, connecting on one-of-five shots while Marina Mabrey had a rough night, scoring eight points, converting on just 2-of-11 shots from the floor.

The Sun host Dallas on Friday night at 7:30 p.m. on ION before heading out to the West Coast for a game at expansion Golden State on Sunday at 8:30 p.m., the first game of a four-game West Coast road trip.

Phoenix 83, Connecticut 75
At Uncasville
Phoenix (83) Thomas 5-10 4-6 14, Westbeld 1-4 2-2 4, Sabally 3-11 5-6 12, Copper 2-9 7-8 13, Akoa Makani 1-3 2-2 5, Mack 3-7 0-0 6, Brown 0-0 0-0 0, Musa 2-4 0-0 4, Laska 4-10 1-1 11, Held 5-6 2-2 14. Totals 26-64 23-27
Connecticut (75) Charles 1-5 0-0 2, Nelson-Ododa 4-6 2-5 10, Hartley 2-6 3-4 9, Mabrey 2-11 3-3 8, Sheldon 5-11 0-0 13, Peters 1-5 0-0 2, Morrow 5-11 6-8 16, Diaby 1-3 0-0 2, Allen 0-0 0-0 0, Brown 2-3 0-0 6, Rivers 2-7 3-4 7. Totals 25-68 17-23
Phoenix (9-4)                      22  26  16  19 — 83
Connecticut (2-10)               9  27  17  22  — 75
Three-point goals: Phoenix 8-23 (Westbeld 0-3, Sabally 1-5, Copper 2-4, Akoa Makani 1-3, Laska 2-6, Held 2-2); Connecticut 8-24 (Charles 0-1, Hartley 2-4, Mabrey 1-5, Sheldon 3-6, Peters 0-2, Morrow 0-1, Brown 2-3, Rivers 0-2). Att. 7864