Third quarter burst allows Dallas to hand Sun a fifth straight loss

No one is feeling sorry for the Connecticut Sun despite injuries, trades and changes to the roster.

For the 14th time this season, Brittney Griner, the team’s leading scorer (14.1 ppg) was out of the lineup Sunday night for Connecticut’s game with the Dallas Wings in Arlington with a left knee injury. Aaliyah Edwards (9.4 ppg) was also on the bench in street clothes for the fourth straight game with a right knee injury.

The team’s third leading scorer (11.6 ppg) and top rebounder (8.9 per game), Aneesah Morrow was traded to Toronto on Friday for a second draft choice in 2028 and the rights to a former WNBA player (Maria Kliundikova) who isn’t playing in the WNBA this season.

The Wings (18-13) used a 27-5 run to seize control and roll past Connecticut, 83-63 before a sellout crowd of 6,241, handing the Sun their fifth straight loss.

Jessica Shepard and Arike Ogunbowale each scored 15 points to lead Dallas while rookie Azzi Fudd scored 12 points. Former UConn star Paige Bueckers scored six points – the fewest she has scored in her WNBA career – but it wasn’t an issue for the Wings.

Most of the Dallas starters sat out the fourth quarter with the Wings building leads as high as 31 points.

Diamond Miller had a season-high 22 points for Connecticut (7-23) with Kennedy Burke adding 14 points. But no one else scored in double digits. Olivia Nelson Ododa had eight points and a team-high 11 rebounds.

The Sun trailed by nine points after Lelia Lacan’s driving layup with 4:47 left in the quarter. But from that point, Dallas outscored the Sun, 20-2 to close out the quarter. Dallas had a 7-3 burst to open the fourth quarter and extend the lead to 31 points.

Connecticut went 3-of-15 from the field in the third quarter and scored just eight points – the fifth time this season they have scored less than 10 points in a quarter.

“We cannot win a game when you are losing every battle on the court,” Sun coach Rachid Meziane said. “Losing in intensity, losing in effort, losing in discipline, losing in communication. When you are playing a great team like that, we have to be almost perfect. And tonight we were too far from not to…to deliver, like, a perfect game.”

Dallas had a slow start in the third quarter, too. They scored just four points in the first six minutes of the third quarter. But their defense was the difference.

“It was our intensity in the third quarter,” Shepard said. “We wanted to create separation and that’s what we did. Obviously, the defensive end was a huge piece of that and then just being able to get out and run.”

Dallas coach Jose Fernandez was pleased the Wings snapped a two-game losing streak but was realistic about the victory, even holding the Sun to their second-worst shooting percentage of the season (34.3 percent).

“I thought we defended a lot better,” he said. “But we got to be honest with ourselves, too. They were missing (Brittney Griner). They were missing Aaliyah Edwards. (Aneesah) Morrow got traded so they were a little depleted in that front line.”

Ogunbowale took advantage. She hit her first four shots from the floor and finished by sinking 7-of-9 shots for 15 points along with five rebounds and five assists. Fudd had 12 points thanks to hitting 4-of-5 shots from three-point range.

This was the final game in a six-game road trip for Connecticut. They won the first game of the trip on July 17 with a 13-point win over Phoenix before losing five straight.

“Defensively, we were too soft,” Meziane said. “We knew what they were capable of. You have to score some tough shots. We gave up too many layups and too many easy buckets.”

The Sun return to action on Friday night when they host Phoenix at the Mohegan Sun Arena. Former Sun star Alyssa Thomas will have her number retired at the game.

Connecticut have a few days to get healthy and work on their game. The Sun are 1-13 when Griner sits out with an injury.

“We have to use everything as an opportunity to grow stronger together,” Meziane said. “We have to face the challenge, no matter the circumstances. It’s part of our job to fight and be ready to fight every night. I don’t see any other team dealing with all of the roster challenges we have had on our team. But it’s not an excuse. We have to keep trusting ourselves and keep working hard.”

The Sun have seven home games left – six in Connecticut – in their final WNBA season in Uncasville before heading to Houston for the 2027 season.