Dallas dominates to rout Connecticut and force game 3
Connecticut’s Jonquel Jones (35) had 20 points and nine rebounds in the Sun’s loss to Dallas in game two of Sunday’s WNBA playoff game.
Like a swarm of biting yellowjackets, the visiting Dallas Wings didn’t allow the Connecticut Sun a moment’s peace until the outcome of Sunday’s WNBA first round series was secured.
The Wings swarmed around the Sun players as they tried to get to the basket at the Mohegan Sun Arena. The Sun players did find some room to get off some shots but a scant few were uncontested. And when they did get an open shot, the Connecticut players bounced the ball off the rim, frequently landing in the hands of the Wings.
As much as Connecticut dominated in a 25-point victory in game one of the best-of-3 series on Thursday night, Dallas dominated with an 89-79 victory Sunday to tie the series at 1-1. A decisive game three with a berth in the WNBA semifinals will be Wednesday in Dallas at 9 p.m.
The Wings led by as many as 31 points on the Sun’s home floor and it looked like Connecticut was headed for their worst playoff loss ever before a late fourth quarter surge made the score more respectable.
“We were focused. We were very disciplined on defense and offense. We moved the basketball. We had 28 assists. We played as a team. We believed as a team and we were able to carry it through,” Dallas head coach Vickie Johnson said.
“You have to believe. You can’t win if you’re afraid, leave everything on the table,” she said. “And we left it all on the floor.”
Dallas scored the first seven points of the game. They led 13-3 and 22-7 after one quarter – tying a team record for the fewest number of points that the Sun have scored in a single quarter in their playoff history.
But the Sun were not dismayed. They got plenty of shots inside except few were falling.
Connecticut cut the lead to nine points by sinking four of their first five shots of the second quarter with Brionna Jones sinking a pair and Dewanna Bonner scoring two field goals. But Dallas’ Teaira McCowan scored in the lane and Allisha Gray sank a pair of foul shots to quickly push the lead back to 13.
Dallas got more fierce as the game went on, extending their lead to as high as 31 points in the third quarter.
Dallas’ Kayla Thornton had a team-high 20 points including 13 in the first half when she was 4-of-6 from three-point range. McCowan, the 6-foot-7 center, didn’t start but she was on the floor every minute that Brionna Jones was on the floor. McCowan had 17 points and 11 rebounds.
Gray had 11 of her 15 points in the first half for the Wings and had a team-leading eight assists.
Dallas won their first playoff game since September 23, 2009 when the team was known as the Detroit Shock. It was the first elimination game victory for the franchise in the playoffs since September, 2008.
“We’ve had a lot of ups and downs and a lot of injuries but everyone stepped up when their number was called,” Johnson said. “We did it as a team offensively and defensively.”
Dallas won without All-Star guard Arike Ogunbowale, who is out for the series with an abdominal injury. She is averaging a team-leading 19.7 points and 7.0 rebounds per game.
Miller said the Wings remind him of last year’s Chicago Sky, which was the No. 6 seed with a 16-16 record and rolled to the WNBA championship. The Sky eliminated the top-seeded Sun in the semifinals.
“They are a .500 team that has better than .500 talent. That is an elite top four team. We knew it would be a difficult series. The difference between winning and losing in this league is razor thin,” he said.
The Sun got 20 points each from Jonquel Jones and Brionna Jones with 11 of Brionna’s 20 points coming in the fourth quarter. DiJonai Carrington scored 13 points while Dewanna Bonner added nine. Alyssa Thomas scored six points, pulled down six rebounds and had five assists.
Guard Courtney Williams had five points on 2-of-8 shooting while Natisha Hiedeman was scoreless, missing all four of her shots.
“I think it was an execution problem,” Jonquel Jones said. “We got wide-open shots. But ultimately, it wasn’t our offense. It is our defense that fuels our offense. So, when we can get some stops and play the kind of defense, we know we are capable of, we’ll be better offensively.”
Miller acknowledged the challenge of forcing turnovers. The Sun had just eight.
“Obviously, we were not able to disrupt them. We have to find ways (to do that),” he said. “It’s not easy. They have really talented guards.”
Connecticut trailed by 16 at the half but the Sun raised some hope among the crowd of 6,788 fans that perhaps a comeback could be in order. Jonquel Jones scored in the lane and then completed a three-point play to cut the lead to 13 points with 7:41 left in the third quarter.
But Dallas used an 8-0 run to quickly squash those comeback hopes. Thornton drained a wide-open three-pointer, guard Veronica Burton sank a three-point shot and then center Isabelle Harrison drove to the basket and scored off a nice feed from Gray to boost the lead back to 21 points.
NOTES: The Sun scored seven points in a single quarter in a playoff loss to the Detroit Shock in August 2006. The worst playoff loss in team history came in 2000 when the Sun lost to the Cleveland Rockers by 29 points. The winner of the series will face the winner of the Chicago vs. New York series, which is also tied at 1-1.
WNBA first round
No. 6 Dallas (18-18) vs. No. 3 Connecticut (25-11)
Thursday, Aug. 18
Connecticut 93, Dallas 68
Sunday, Aug. 21
Dallas 89, Connecticut 79, series tied 1-1
Wednesday, Aug. 24
Connecticut at Dallas, 9 p.m.