As soon as you walked into the arena, you felt the energy from the crowd of 7,638. The DJ was playing the tunes, the Connecticut Sun dance team was nailing the moves, and the squad was getting ready to take on the Dallas Wings. Blaze, the Sun mascot, and the in-house entertainment started the game off right with a track by Beyoncé, “Texas Hold Em.” With cowboy hats but quickly shifted gears, asserting, “This is Connecticut!” Tonight, the Connecticut Sun (7-0) defeated the Dallas Wings (3-3), 74-72, to remain the only undefeated team in the WNBA. Both teams saw double-digit leads disappear throughout the contest, but the Sun was able to close out the victory late in the fourth quarter after a pair of key defensive stops.
Brionna Jones led Connecticut to the win, tallying her first twenty-point outing of the season with 22 points, along with four rebounds and one assist. Jones also recorded a season-high 30 minutes of action after beginning the season on a minute restriction, showing her resilience and skill. Alyssa Thomas finished one rebound shy of a triple-double, notching 15 points, nine rebounds, and a season-high 14 assists. Seven of her 14 assists came in the third quarter, tying her career-high for most assists in a single quarter. Thomas also recorded a game-saving block, denying Dallas’ Kalani Brown a lay-up that would have put the Wings up one with 9.6 seconds remaining. DeWanna Bonner added 12 points, four rebounds, and two assists. DiJonai Carrington finished with nine points and three rebounds, and Ty Harris notched seven points, two rebounds, four assists, and two steals in the win.
Dallas was led by Arike Ogunbowale, who finished with 21 points, four assists, and a team-high seven assists. Maddy Siegrist added 17 points for the Wings, going a perfect 8-8 from the floor. Dallas shot 51.6% while Connecticut finished 48.3% from the field. The Sun outscored the Wings in the paint but lost the battles in second chance points fast break points and bench points.
The Sun’s 7-0 start ties the 2023 Las Vegas Aces, 2014 Minnesota Lynx, 2007 Detroit Shock, 1999 Houston Comets, and 1997 New York Liberty for the fifth-longest win streak to begin a season in WNBA history. They also became one of 12 teams in WNBA history to start a season 7-0 or better. Alyssa Thomas tallied her 17th career points-assists double-double, which ranks her fourth all-time in WNBA history. No one besides Thomas has recorded more than six points-assists double-doubles in Connecticut Sun history.
Despite their success, The Sun had a season-low 58.3% (14-24) from the free-throw line. Connecticut turned the ball over 11 times, resulting in 19 points for Dallas. However, they capitalized on Dallas’ 15 turnovers, also resulting in 19 points for the Sun.
In the post-game interview, Alyssa Thomas emphasized, “This is about us, we can be a lot better than we are right now which is scary!” Coach White echoed her sentiment, saying, “In that locker room, we have a core that are perfectionists, and we sometimes have to give ourselves grace.” The Sun will next head to Atlanta to take on the Atlanta Dream on June 2 at 3 pm.
