UNCASVILLE — Beating a WNBA team three times in a row is not easy, but on Monday, the Sun seemed determined to prove otherwise.
Connecticut led the visiting Indiana Fever for nearly the entire game, putting on a dominant display on both ends of the court as the Sun cruised to an 89-72 at the Mohegan Sun Arena.
Connecticut earns its third win of the season over Indiana, coming at a good time after the Sun suffered their first loss of the year on Saturday against the New York Liberty.
“You have to bounce back quick, especially in this league,” Connecticut’s DiJonai Carrington said after the game.
“The good thing about a loss (in the regular season) is you have another game to prepare for the next day, so you can’t harp on it.”
Connecticut (10-1) will hit the road for its next game on Wednesday, Jun. 12 at 8 p.m. against the Chicago Sky.
Carrington and DeWanna Bonner had the hot hand early on, combining for 29 of the Sun’s 55 first-half points as the hosts built a twenty-point lead by halftime. The Sun shot a scorching-hot 61.3% in the first half, hitting six of eight from beyond the arc and recording 15 assists on their 19 made shots from the field.
“You saw what our offense can look like when we don’t just hold the ball (and) don’t get stagnant (and) don’t get stuck on one action,” Carrington said. “We were moving the ball side to side, we were cutting. If the first thing wasn’t there, we just went to the next action and we were just fluid.”
Indiana started the game brightly but faded quickly as the visitors struggled to keep Connecticut from getting easy buckets in transition. The Sun worked their way to the free throw line throughout the night and were extremely disciplined on the other end of the court to keep the Fever at bay.
A 14-5 run for the Sun to end the first half paved the way for the hosts to roll through the opposition in the second half. The Sun tightened the screws defensively in the third quarter and quickly added to their advantage, leading at one point by as many as 28.
Carrington finished with a game-high 22 points and three steals, playing tight-nosed defense on Indiana’s Caitlin Clark throughout the night. With Carrington leading Connecticut’s coverage on Clark, the former Hawkeye was held to just 10 points on three-of-eight shooting from the field and committed three turnovers.
“Every night I have a big defensive assignment and that’s what I want,” Carrington said. “My defense definitely fuels my offense and getting stops, getting easy buckets in transition. I think it gets the crowd going, it gets all of us going.
“When you’re playing against great players every night, you’ve got to be locked in. And I think that that’s just what it has to be, it’s discipline, it’s a mindset because defense is a lot of effort and just staying locked in.”
The hosts let off the gas in the fourth, scoring just nine points as both teams depleted their benches for most of the quarter.
Connecticut’s sluggish play late in the game can be overlooked and forgiven in an otherwise picture-perfect performance. But with the kind of mission that the Sun are on, perfection is exactly what they must strive for.
“When you’re chasing championships, it’s not about the opponent, it’s about your standard, right? And it’s about how you approach every standard,” Connecticut Sun coach Stephanie White said. “I realize human nature, when you have a big lead is to kind of relax. We don’t have the luxury of relaxing, not with what we’re chasing and not with who we’re chasing.”
