Connecticut Sun Claim Another Road Victory, Outlast Short-Handed Wings

The Connecticut Sun held off a short-handed Dallas Wings team for another road win on Wednesday night.

Dallas Wings center Luisa Geiselsoder (18) and Connecticut Sun center Tina Charles (31) battle for control of the ball during the first half at College Park Center. / Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

The Connecticut Sun improved to five wins in their last seven games with a 101-95 victory over the Dallas Wings on Wednesday night.  

The Sun (10-28) reached 10 victories for the season and won their fourth road win of the season, but their third since Aug. 19. Connecticut snapped a five-game losing streak with a win over Chicago on Aug. 13 and it has won five of its past seven games since then.

The Wings (9-30) entered the game short-handed. Right before the game, guard Paige Bueckers was declared out by the Wings due to an illness. She joined Arike Ogunbowale (right knee), Ty Harris (left knee), JJ Quinerly (left knee) and Li Yueru (left knee), who were declared out before the game.

How Sun Defeated Wings

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Even with the Wings down five players, they were able to take a 30-21 lead on Connecticut after the first quarter. But the Sun bounced back in a big way in the second quarter, as they outscored the Wings, 33-19, as took a 54-49 lead over Dallas going into halftime. The Sun only added to that lead with a big third quarter, outscoring the Wings, 29-21, as Connecticut took an 83-70 over Dallas going into the fourth quarter.

Dallas put together a furious rally in the fourth quarter. Down 14 points, 91-77, with 7:07 left, the Wings chipped away over the next several minutes to cut the lead to two points, 91-89, with 2:21 left after a pair of free throws from Maddy Siegrist.

The Sun pushed the lead back to four points on three different occasions, but the Wings answered each time, the last with 18.6 seconds left after Aziaha James made a driving lay-up to cut Connecticut’s lead to 97-95.

The Sun’s Marina Mabrey made two free throws with 16.6 seconds left to push the lead to four points. Dallas’ Myisha Hines-Allen missed a 3-pointer with 9.7 seconds left and the Sun’s Tina Charles rebounded the ball, drew a foul and made two more free throws to ice the game.

Leila Lacan moved into the starting lineup and led the Sun with 22 points and six assists. Mabrey and Charles each had 18 points. Mabrey made a pair of 3-pointers and went 8-for-9 from the free-throw line, while Charles also had five rebounds. Aneesah Morrow had a double-double — 11 points and 11 rebounds. Saniya Rivers added 11 points off the bench.

James led the Wings with 22 points, while Seigrist scored 15 points and Haley Jones added 12 points and six rebounds. Off the bench, Dallas got 18 points from Allen and 14 points from Amy Okonkwo.

Remaining Sun Schedule

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Saturday, Aug. 30: vs. Minnesota, 7 p.m. ET, NBC Sports Boston/NBA TV

Monday, Sept. 1: vs. Atlanta, 1 p.m. ET, NBC Sports Boston

Wednesday, Sept. 3: at Chicago, 8 p.m. ET, NBC Sports Boston

Saturday, Sept. 6: vs. Phoenix, 1 p.m. ET, NBC Sports Boston

Monday, Sept. 8: at Atlanta, 7:30 p.m. ET, NBC Sports Boston

Wednesday, Sept. 10: vs. Atlanta, 7 p.m. ET, NBC Sports Boston

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