The Connecticut Sun and Minnesota Lynx will both try to keep chasing perfection on Thursday night when the teams square off in Uncasville, Conn.
Connecticut (3-0) is off to a fast start, sandwiching a pair of wins against the Indiana Fever around a victory over the Washington Mystics.
But the Sun believe there’s still plenty of room for improvement, specifically on the offensive side of the ball.
After being held under 20 points in each of the first three quarters during last Friday’s win against Washington, Connecticut made just 1 of 11 3-pointers in the first half before going on to beat the host Fever 88-84 on Monday.
“We have to start better, and that was kind of a theme last year, too. We would dig ourselves a hole and then have to climb out of it,” Sun guard DiJonai Carrington said after a 32-point fourth quarter helped Connecticut dispatch the Mystics. “It’s obviously early, but we have an expectation that we hold ourselves and each other to.
“So we just have to be better coming out, but also you know every game is not going to be pretty.”
Minnesota (2-0) can attest to that.
The Lynx built a 16-point lead in the second quarter against the Seattle Storm last Friday, but ended up needing two overtimes to secure a 102-93 victory.
With 24.1 seconds left in regulation and Minnesota holding a three-point advantage, Kayla McBride missed two free throws that could have put Seattle to bed. Then, with 2.7 seconds left in the first overtime, Napheesa Collier split a pair of foul shots, leading to the second extra session.
Still, the Lynx managed to top the Storm for the second time this year, and McBride feels like Minnesota has already established strong team chemistry.
“We have a lot of trust here,” McBride said. “Even with all the new faces and people, there is so much trust in our fight to win.”
Collier is leading the Lynx with 24.5 points per game, and she finished with 29 against Seattle. DeWanna Bonner, who had 22 points to complement Alyssa Thomas’ 24 in the most recent win over Indiana, is averaging a team-high 21.3 points for the Sun.
Connecticut and Minnesota met seven times last year, with the Sun taking the regular-season series 3-1 before getting the best of the Lynx in a three-game, first-round playoff series that went the distance.
–Field Level Media
