Washington — The Connecticut Sun started fast, but could not hold off the Washington Mystics, falling 92-80 at Capital One Arena on Tuesday night.
Chiney Ogwumike led the way with 17 points and 11 rebounds while Alex Bentley (13 points, six assists), Jasmine Thomas (13 points, four rebounds, three assists) and Morgan Tuck (11 points, five rebounds) also scored in double figures.
Elena Delle Donne had 25 points for the Mystics (9-5) while LaToya Sanders had a career-high 18 points, and also pulled down eight rebounds.
The Sun (8-6) led by 11 points twice in the first quarter, and were still up 57-54 with 5:23 left in the third quarter when Sanders scored the first four points of a 16-0 run that put Washington ahead 70-57. The quarter ended with the Mystics leading 76-61.
Connecticut tied a WNBA record for the biggest deficit ever overcome to take a lead when it rallied from 30 points down in a game it eventually lost to the Mystics back on June 13, and it managed to cut the deficit to six points when Bentley’s juniper made it 82-76 with 4:17 left on Tuesday night.
But that was as close as the Sun would get.
Connecticut jumped out to leads of 17-6 and 19-8 in the first quarter, which ended with the visitors leading 25-15. Thomas led the way with 10 points and the Sun piled up a 16-8 advantage on the boards.
Connecticut still led by 10 points, 44-34, after Courtney Williams scored on a pull-up jumper with 2:37 left in the half. Washington closed with a 9-2 run to make it 46-43 at the half.
The Sun return home to host the Indiana Fever Wednesday at 7 p.m.