Uncasville – Courtney Williams led the way with 22 points while Jonquel Jones had 19 points and 12 rebounds as the Connecticut Sun rolled to a 96-76 victory over the New York Liberty at Mohegan Sun Arena on Wednesday night.
It was the third straight win for the short-handed Sun (4-5), who snapped a nine-game losing streak to the Liberty (6-4) that dates back to June of 2014. Connecticut was without Morgan Tuck (knee contusion), Lynetta Kizer (back) and Alex Bentley (temporarily not with the team while competing for the Belarus National Team).
Forward Alyssa Thomas had a season-high 18 points for the third straight game, and also contributed six rebounds, five assists and three steals. She has 13 assists, 11 rebounds and eight steals in the last three games. Point guard Jasmine Thomas had 14 points and a season-high eight assists while Rachel Banham came off the bench to score a season-high 11 points, making all three three-point attempts.
The Sun led from start to finish Wednesday, making 11-of-16 (68.8 percent) shots from the field while building a 26-15 lead after the first quarter.
The Sun cooled off in the second quarter, scoring 19 points on 5-of-18 shooting. But Williams scored 11 of those points and also had three rebounds, and the Sun went into the half with a 45-32 lead. Williams is averaging 21.3 points with 22 rebounds over the last three games.
In the second half, New York could not get closer than nine, pulling within 65-56 on a three-pointer from Tina Charles (17 points) with 1:32 left in the third quarter. But Jones answered with a pair of layups to spark a 15-0 run that made it 80-56 with 8:37 left. Banham capped the run with consecutive three-pointers.
The Sun visit Minnesota on Saturday. Game time is set for 8 p.m. ET.