Jonquel Jones finished with 21 points and six rebounds as the Connecticut Suns cruised to a 93-68 victory over the injury-riddled Atlanta Dream on Friday night in College Park, Ga.
Natisha Hiedeman added 13 points, Brionna Jones chipped in 10 to go along with six rebounds and Alyssa Thomas contributed 11 points, six rebounds and five assists for Connecticut (16-8), which has won three of its last four.
Atlanta rookie All-Star guard Rhyne Howard, the Dream’s leading scorer at 14.7 points per game, did not suit up for the game because of a right shoulder injury. Nia Coffey (right knee) was also a late scratch for Atlanta.
Coffey’s replacement, Monique Billings, did not return after spraining her right ankle in the first half. Billings only played five minutes and scored two points.
Tiffany Hayes paced the Dream (10-14) with 18 points and six rebounds. Naz Hillmon had 13 points and 11 rebounds off the bench, and AD Durr added 12 points.
The Sun, who made eight 3-pointers and shot 44.8 percent from the field, swept the three-game season series against Atlanta.
Connecticut never trailed and scored the game’s first six points. It led 28-15 after the first quarter and 51-33 at halftime.
The Dream could not find their offense all night, shooting 41.9 percent from the field while only going 2-for-13 (15.4 percent) from behind the arc.
Connecticut scored 29 points off 20 Atlanta turnovers and recorded 20 assists on its 30 made field goals.
After Hayes made a 3-pointer with 5:44 left in the third quarter to cut the lead to 60-46, the Sun went on a 17-3 run to pull away.
In that stretch, Atlanta was 1-for-7 from the field.
The Sun head back home to play the second-place Las Vegas Aces (17-7) on Sunday after playing five of their last six games on the road. They went 3-2 in those games with two of the wins against Atlanta.
–Field Level Media
