Washington, DC — The Connecticut Sun extended the best start in franchise history to 5-0 with an 88-64 victory over the Washington Mystics at Capital One Arena on Sunday afternoon.
Jasmine Thomas had a season-high 25 points and Alex Bentley had 15 points with a pair of threes off the bench while Courtney Williams tied a career high with 10 rebounds.
The Sun were 10 of 26 from three-point range, and piled up a 45-31 edge in rebounds, leading wire-to-wire against the Mystics (5-3).
Connecticut took control of the game with a 10-0 run over the last three minutes of the half to grab a 47-35 lead at the break. Jasmine Thomas started the run with one of her season-high four three-pointers and Chiney Ogwumike (11 points, nine rebounds) had a three-point play and a pair of free throws. Alyssa Thomas (10 points) closed with a jumper.
The momentum carried over into the third quarter, where Connecticut used a 22-2 run over the final 6:27 of the third quarter to build a 74-47 lead. Six different Sun players contributed to the run.
The Sun entered the last 10 minutes in a comfortable position. But the Mystics used a 12-4 run to keep it interesting, getting within 78-59 with just over five minutes remaining.
Washington rallied from 18 points down to beat Minnesota earlier this season, and were still hanging round in the closing minutes. But the Sun have become accustomed to protecting fourth-quarter leads, and closed out their second straight win on the road with back-to-back threes from Jonquel Jones (eight points, eight rebounds) and Lexie Brown.
The Sun were 11 of 15 (73.3 percent) to start the game, and led 30-18 after one quarter behind 12 points from Jasmine Thomas and six points and five rebounds from Williams.
The Mystics recovered, battling back to 37-35 with just over three minutes left in the half as the Sun cooled off (2 of 11) from the field while the Mystics hit on 7 of 10 shots during a 17-7 run.
Jasmine Thomas hit a three to break the spell, however, and the Sun were on their way to victory.
The Sun continue this road trip at Atlanta, facing the Dream on Tuesday night at 8 p.m.