Alyssa Thomas scored 20 points and Brionna Jones netted 18 as the visiting Connecticut Sun held off the pesky Chicago Sky 83-75 on Wednesday night.
Thomas also added seven rebounds, six steals and four assists for the Sun (11-1), who are 2-0 since falling at home to New York on Saturday. DeWanna Bonner added 16 points and Tyasha Harris 13 as Connecticut forced the Sky into 19 turnovers.
Chicago (4-7) battled back from a 13-point hole in the fourth quarter to get within four on Diamond DeShields’ 3-pointer with 28.2 seconds remaining.
However, the Sky, who got a season-high 20 points to go with 10 boards from rookie Angel Reese, couldn’t get closer. Kamilla Cardoso, Marina Mabrey and Chennedy Carter each scored 10 for the Sky, who shot 48.3 percent but fell to 1-5 at home.
The Sun led 60-55 at the end of the third quarter, and then scored the first eight points of the fourth. Four different players scored during that surge, highlighted by easy buckets from Bonner and Thomas.
Connecticut, 4-0 on the road, led 40-38 at the half, then scored seven of the first nine points to open the third quarter.
Later in the period, a 3-pointer from DiJonai Carrington put the Sun ahead 54-59. However, back-to-back buckets from Carter and Reese made it a one-point contest.
Harris then knocked down a trey of her own to give the Sun some breathing room.
A 12-2 first-quarter surge, paced by four points apiece by the newly-named Olympian Thomas and Jones, helped the Sun erase a 4-0 hole. A bucket by Bonner gave Connecticut a 16-8 lead with 5:17 left in the first quarter.
However, six straight points from Carter highlighted a 14-2 run that put Chicago ahead by four before. The Sky led by two after the first 10 minutes.
After Reese’s layup off a Sun turnover tied it at 34-34 with roughly three minutes to play in the first half, Jones scored the game’s next four points.
Connecticut shot 40.6 percent, committed 10 turnovers and allowed Chicago to make 46.7 percent of its shots in the first half, but held a 6-2 advantage on the offensive glass to lead by a pair at the break.
–Field Level Media
