Alyssa Thomas posted her second consecutive triple-double, and this time it came in a victory as the Connecticut Sun defeated the visiting Minnesota Lynx 79-69 on Tuesday night in Uncasville, Conn.
Thomas racked up 21 points, 20 rebounds and 12 assists. She had her fifth triple-double of the season in the books with more than 1 1/2 minutes remaining in the third quarter. She has more triple-doubles this season than all other WNBA players combined.
Thomas has a WNBA-record nine career triple-doubles, seven in the regular season. Sabrina Ionescu is next with four total.
Tyasha Harris poured in 17 points off the bench, Tiffany Hayes supplied 16 points and DeWanna Bonner had 15 points for the Sun (19-7), who have won four of their last five games.
The outcome came two days after the Lynx pulled out an 87-83 victory on the same court.
Lindsay Allen scored 16 points, Kayla McBride posted 15 points and Diamond Miller had 13 points and six assists for the Lynx (13-14), who had a three-game winning streak halted. Minnesota won those previous three outings by a total of 14 points, but it couldn’t keep Tuesday’s margin close by the end.
Thomas also did work defensively, with a game-high three steals.
Bonner helped the Sun pull away with five points in a 53-second stretch that allowed Connecticut to hold a 75-62 lead with 3:59 to play.
Connecticut shot 50 percent from the field to make up for shooting just 4-for-21 on 3-pointers and 3-for-6 on free throws. Bonner was 6-for-10 shooting from 2-point range, but 1-for-9 on 3s.
The Lynx weren’t much better from the 3-point arc, going 5-for-18.
It was a tight game for much of the first half until the Sun carried a 37-30 lead to halftime. Minnesota drew within 58-52 in the final minute of the third quarter.
The second segment of the two-game visit to Connecticut wasn’t as rewarding for Minnesota rookie forward Dorka Juhasz, who played collegiately for UConn. She was held to four points in 28 minutes, though she pulled in a team-high 11 rebounds.
–Field Level Media