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Connecticut Sun Hit Road Looking For Wins

The Sun will open an important four-game West Coast road swing this evening (10 p.m.) when they face Breanna Stewart and the Seattle Storm (4-9).

Connecticut (3-10) will be looking to put together a much-needed winning streak, after having edged the San Antonio Stars on June 19, 93-90.

Alex Bentley, gradually emerging from a horrific shooting slump, poured in 29 points (11-of-16 s from the field/2-of-2 three-pointers).

It was Bentley’s fourth consecutive game reaching double-digits. Bentley scored 31 points on June 14 in a triple-overtime loss to the Washington Mystics.

Connecticut finished with five players in double-figures Bentley (29), Jonquel Jones (14), Chiney Ogwumike (12) Jasmine Thomas (11) and Kelly Faris (10).

“We have been putting ourselves in position to win games,” said Sun coach Curt Miller in his postgame remarks about his squads win over the Stars.
Tonight’s game with the Storm marks the third and final time the two teams will face each other this season.

On May 28 in Seattle, the Sun was victimized by Jewell Loyd’s 26 points and the Storm’s red-hot shooting (56.1%).

Breanna Stewart tossed in 11 points and Sue Bird added 14 to as Seattle won 93-81.

Connecticut was led by Jasmine Thomas (17 points) and Kelsey Bone (14).

On June 10, the Sun returned the favor when they edged the Storm 77-76 while spoiling Breanna Stewart’s homecoming at Mohegan Sun Arena.

Alyssa Thomas provided the game-winner for the Sun when she scored on a tip-in with 0.6 seconds left in regulation.

No. 1 draft pick, Morgan Tuck, led the Sun with a season-high 20 points while Thomas chipped in with 15 points and 9 boards.

The remaining games on the road trip are with LA (6/26), Phoenix (6/29) and Dallas (7/2).

 

SUN SPOTS

The Sun’s Jasmine Thomas is among the league-leaders in assist with 4.8 apg.

The Seattle Storm’s Sue Bird is the league-leader at 5.5.

Rookie Jonquel Jones finished with a career high of 14 pointsin the win over San Antonio.

The power forward also matched her career high with nine rebounds and two steals.

Kelly Faris tallied a season high of 10 points (2-of-5 from beyond the arc) with seven of her 10 points crammed into the third quarter.

 

Did you know?

The New York Liberty’s Swin Cash recently reached a career milestone when she surpassed 5,000-career points, becoming the 14th player in WNBA history to do so.

Cash is one of just two players in WNBA history to have 5,000 points, 2,000 rebounds and 1,000 assists. The only other is the Indiana Fever’s Tamika Catchings.

The Liberty’s Tina Charles leads the WNBA in scoring as of June 24.

Charles, who is off to a sensational start in 2016, is scoring at a 22.1 ppg clip.

Charles also leads the league in rebounding at 9.8 rpg.

The other scoring leaders include Diana Taurasi (19.8), Angel McCoughtry (19.8), Maya Moore (18.8) and 2015 WNBA MVP Elena Delle Donne (18.8).

The LA Sparks Nneka Ogwumike, Chiney’s sister, set a new WNBA standard when she combined for 19 consecutive shots made (12 field goals and 7 free throws).

 

Rio Olympics

The 2016 USA Basketball Women’s National Team will host a four team, exhibition tournament on July 29 at the Webster Bank Arena in Bridgeport, Ct.

Australia and France will square off in the first game at 4:30 p.m.

Coach Geno Auriemma and Team USA face Canada in the second game (7 p.m.).

Tickets for the exhibition tournament will go on sale starting June 13.

For complete details go to: USAB.COM/SHOWCASE

In Rio, Team USA will open preliminary round play on Aug. 7 against Senegal.

They are in Group B along with Canada, Senegal and Serbia.

There have been a number of athlete’s that have opted-out of this year’s Games with Ireland’s Rory McIlroy the most recent to decline for health-related reasons.

I suspect that there will be more to follow.

 

Looking ahead

The Sun will return to Mohegan Sun Arena and play host to the red-hot Minnesota Lynx and Maya Moore on July 7 (7 p.m.).

The Lynx remain unbeaten with a record to 13-0, which has shattered the WNBA record for the best start.

The previous mark was set in 2012 by the Lynx (10-0).

The Sun will begin their 2016 Rio Olympic Game hiatus on July 23 and resume regular season play on Aug. 26 when the face

Minnesota. The game will mark the final appearance at Mohegan Sun Arena this season for the Lynx and former UConn great Moore.

 

Follow Bob on Twitter for all the Sun and WNBA news: @WhitneyBob

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Bob Whitney

Bob is a college basketball columnist here at DoubleGSports.com. He also covers Yale football and the Connecticut Sun of the WNBA.
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