UNCASVILLE, Conn. — Alyssa Thomas scored 20 points on 8-of-12 shooting to lead the Connecticut Sun to an 86-77 wire-to-wire victory Saturday night over the Indiana Fever. The Sun used an 18-4 third-quarter run to take control against the Fever and assume a 19-point advantage heading to the fourth.
Connecticut’s Jasmine Thomas opened the second half with a 3-pointer to push the home team’s lead to 12. A 7-0 spurt by Indiana cut the margin to five, but it accounted for most of the Fever’s offense during an otherwise dominant quarter for the Sun. Connecticut ran its Eastern Conference-leading record to 3-0 while the Fever, the WNBA’s youngest team, fell to 0-5 for the first time since 2001.
The Sun, who shot 48 percent and forced Indiana into 18 turnovers, got 14 points from Rachel Banham, with Courtney Williams and Jasmine Thomas contributing 11, and Chiney Ogwumike 10.
The Fever outrebounded Connecticut 37-29 and used seven 3-pointers, all by rookie first-round draft picks Kelsey Mitchell and Victoria Vivians, to soften the final margin.
Mitchell, who reached double-figure scoring for the fourth time in her first five pro games, scored 12 of her Indiana-high 18 points in the fourth quarter as the Fever played with a young lineup composed predominantly of four rookies and second-year forward Erica McCall. Vivians used three 3-pointers and 5-of-8 shooting to finish with a season-high 13 points. McCall played just 16 minutes but finished with a game-high nine rebounds to match the career high she set last year on the same floor, in the lone start of her career. Rookie second-round pick Stephanie Mavunga had a season-high eight points with four rebounds.
“I thought we did the hard part — we outrebounded a really good team and kept [Connecticut] from scoring 100 [for the third straight game] — but we have to have more discipline on the little things,” said Fever coach Pokey Chatman. “Unfortunately, that is a sign of our young team.”
She added, “Erica [McCall] and the babies got a lot of time in the fourth quarter. I was proud of their effort. They are doing the right things. They made mistakes and they contributed to a lot of those turnovers. But if I had to draw a positive in a tough loss, I would point to the positive minutes we got from the younger players tonight.”
Aside from the youngsters, rookie Candice Dupree had 14 points and six rebounds despite not playing in the final period. Point guard Erica Wheeler posted eight points with a career-high nine assists.
The Sun led by six during the opening period before Mitchell cut the score to 22-21 with the first of her four 3-pointers. Connecticut’s 24-21 advantage at the first-quarter break ballooned to 14 though, as the Sun used seven points from reserve Rachel Banham to spark a 14-0 streak following Mitchell’s bucket.
Connecticut assumed its largest lead of the first half, 40-24, on a three-point play by Alyssa Thomas, but Vivians and Mavunga led an 11-0 surge to pull within 40-35. Vivians began the spurt with a 3-pointer and Mavunga scored six straight during the run. The Sun led 47-38 at intermission.
Following a stretch of five games in eight days to begin the 2018 campaign, Indiana plays just two games over the next two weeks, returning to Bankers Life Fieldhouse to host the New York Liberty next Saturday.
Highlights