Brooklyn, NY (July 16, 2024)- Tonight, the Connecticut Sun (18-6) fell to the New York Liberty (21-4), 82-74, in their final game prior to the WNBA All-Star and Olympic break. With the loss, the Sun move to 0-3 against the Liberty in 2024, with their final regular season battle coming on August 24 in New York.
Brionna Jones led Connecticut with 17 points, five rebounds, one assist, a season-high three steals and one block in 35 minutes of action. Alyssa Thomas added 16 points, eight rebounds, five assists, one steal and one block in 23 minutes of play. It marked her first double-digit outing since July 4, stringing three straight games with seven or less points.
DiJonai Carrington added 13 points, six rebounds, two assists and a career-high five steals in 30 minutes tonight. Ty Harris rounded out the Sun’s double-figure scorers with 11 points, one rebound, four assists and one steal in 31 minutes of play.
The difference came beyond the three-point arc in tonight’s game, as the Sun finished shooting 42.4% (28/66) but only 11.1% (2/18) from three-point territory. The Liberty made two less field goals on the day shooting 44.1% (26/59) but finished 40.7% (11/27) from beyond the arc.
Sabrina Ionescu finished with 30 points, going 10/10 from the charity stripe, to lead New York on the night. Courtney Vandersloot was the only other Liberty to finish in double-figures, adding 10 points, one rebound and three assists.
Game Runs:
1H: The Liberty opened the contest on an 11-2 run forcing the Sun into a timeout with 7:43 remaining in the first quarter. Connecticut outscored New York, 21-17, the rest of the way to cut the deficit to five, 28-23, heading into the second. Alyssa Thomas notched six points, three rebounds and four assists to pace the Sun through ten minutes. A 19-17 second quarter for Connecticut made it a one-possession game at the break, 45-43. Thomas had 12 points and seven rebounds at the break, while Brionna Jones added 11 first half points.
2H: The Sun trailed by as many as six points in the third, but were able to outscore the Liberty, 21-18, in the third to tie the game, 63-63, heading into the fourth. DiJonai Carrington notched seven of her 13 points in the third to lead Connecticut in scoring out of the locker room. New York went on a quick 5-0 run to begin the fourth, to take a 68-63 lead with 8:47 to go in the game. The Sun were held without a field goal until the 4:44 mark in the final quarter, when Carrington came up with her fourth steal and converted a break-away lay-up to cut the Liberty’s advantage to four, 73-69. New York finished the contest outscoring Connecticut, 9-5, the rest of the way to take an 82-74 win
Notes:
- The Sun outscored the Liberty in the paint (40-26) and second chance points (10-9), while the Liberty had the advantage in fast break points (16-10) and bench points (16-9).
- Brionna Jones moved into 12th all-time in blocks and 10th all-time in field goals made in tonight’s game.
- The Sun forced the Liberty into 21 turnovers in the game, scoring 21 points off of those mistakes. Connecticut committed 14 turnovers on the night, resulting in 16 points for New York.
- Connecticut has now dropped seven straight regular season contests to New York dating back to the start of the 2023 season. The Sun has not won a regular season game at Barclays since May 17, 2022.
| Team | Score | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Q4 | PTS | REB | AST |
| CON | 74 | 23 | 19 | 21 | 11 | Jones- 17 | Bonner/Thomas- 8 | Thomas- 5 |
| NYL | 82 | 28 | 17 | 18 | 19 | Ionescu- 30 | Jones- 7 | Ionescu- 5 |
NEXT GAME: The Connecticut Sun play their first game after the Olympic break against the Dallas Wings on Friday, August 16 at 9:30 PM ET/8:30 PM CT at the College Park Center.