Tiffany Hayes scored a team-high 21 points Thursday night and the Connecticut Sun led wire-to-wire in an 89-68 rout of the Minnesota Lynx in Minneapolis.
DiJonai Carrington came off the bench to tally 17, while Alyssa Thomas added 15 points and nine rebounds for Connecticut (11-3), which maintained its lead in the Eastern Conference with its fifth win in six games. DeWanna Bonner contributed 11 points as the Sun scored at least 80 points for the 11th consecutive game.
Napheesa Collier scored 21 points for Minnesota (4-9) but didn’t get enough help. The Lynx, which played without three starters – Diamond Miller, Jessica Shepard and Aerial Powers – due to injury or illness, made only 31.6 percent of their field goal attempts and were 4 of 22 on 3-pointers.
Playing its first game without center Brionna Jones, who suffered a leg injury in the fourth quarter of Tuesday night’s 85-79 win at Seattle, Connecticut made up for the absence of her 15.9 points and 8.2 rebounds per game.
The Sun still earned a 40-37 rebounding advantage and connected on 12 of 25 3-pointers, with four players hitting multiple 3s. Hayes made 4 of 8 and Carrington sank 3 of 4.
Hayes got Connecticut off to a fast start that shaped the game, scoring 11 points in the game’s first 4 1/2 minutes as the Sun established an 18-6 advantage. She drained two 3-pointers and tacked on an old-fashioned 3-point play.
Leading 27-17 after a quarter, Connecticut clamped down on Minnesota in the second quarter, permitting just 11 points. Hayes finished the half with a layup off a Natisha Hiedeman feed, enabling the Sun to go up 41-28 at the break.
Connecticut ended the game’s competitive phase in the third quarter, pushing the margin to 58-34 when Hayes drilled a 3-pointer at the 6:12 mark. It led 67-43 going to the fourth.
–Field Level Media