Uncasville, CT (July 10, 2024)- Today, the Connecticut Sun (17-5) fell to the New York Liberty (18-4), 71-68, in their annual Camp Day matinee matchup. The Sun move to 0-2 against the Liberty in 2024, with their next meeting coming on Tuesday, July 16 in Brooklyn. With the win New York stays atop of the WNBA standings, while Connecticut holds the second-best record in the WNBA.
DeWanna Bonner led the Sun in scoring with her third-straight 20+ point outing, notching 22 points, nine rebounds and three assists on the day. She made three of the Sun’s six three-point field goals and was also the only player to play all 40 minutes in today’s game.
Brionna Jones tallied 17 points, eight rebounds, two assists and block in a season-high 35 minutes of action. Ty Harris rounded out the Sun’s double-figure scorers with 11 points, one rebound and three assists on the day.
The Sun shot just 35.8% (24-67), while the Liberty shot 49.1% (28-57) on the afternoon. Connecticut’s 35.8% field goal clip marks their second-worst shooting percentage of the season (35.1% vs. Phoenix- 5/28).
New York was paced by Sabrina Ionescu who finished with 21 points, five rebounds, five assists, one steal and one block. Breanna Stewart added a double-double with 18 points, 14 rebounds, two assists, three steals and three blocks.
Game Runs:
1Q: The Sun trailed the Liberty, 16-11, heading into the first media timeout of the contest. The Liberty finished the first on a 13-8 spurt out of that timeout to take a ten-point lead, 29-19, into the second. New York opened the game shooting 70.6% (12/17), while Connecticut went just 37.5% (6/16) from the floor. DeWanna Bonner led the Sun with eight points, while Brionna Jones added seven points after ten minutes of play. Breanna Stewart and Sabrina Ionescu each had 10 first-quarter points for the Liberty.
2Q: After trailing by as many as 14 in the second quarter, the Sun used a 17-4 run to cut the Liberty’s lead to one, 39-38, heading into the locker room at half time. Jones led Connecticut with 13 points at the break, while Bonner added 10 points, two rebounds and two assists. Connecticut finished the first half shooting 37.1% (13/35), while New York went 54.8% (17-31). The Sun held the advantage beyond the arc in the first half however, shooting 36.4% (4/11), while the Liberty shot 14.3% (1/7).
3Q: New York opened the second half on a 9-0 run to push their lead back up to ten, 48-38, forcing Connecticut into a timeout with 7:27 to play in the third. Back-to-back Ty Harris buckets stopped the New York run and cut the deficit to five, 48-43, with 5:37 remaining in the quarter. Both teams scored 11 points to close the quarter, with the Liberty taking a five-point lead into the fourth, 59-54. Harris led the Sun in scoring in the third with five points, while Jones and Bonner each added four points out of the break.
4Q: A 9-4 start to the fourth quarter for the Sun made it a tie game, 63-63, with 4:59 to play in the game. A Bonner three would give Connecticut its first lead, 66-65, with 3:48 left in the fourth quarter. The two teams continued to battle for the lead down the stretch- two free-throws by Stewart put the Liberty back in front (67-66), but that was quickly followed by a driving lay-in from DiJonai Carrington to give the Sun the lead back (68-67) with two minutes to play. Back-to-back jumpers from Ionescu put the Liberty back up three, 71-68, with 4.4 seconds remaining. A last-second three-point attempt by Harris was blocked and the clocked expired, giving the Liberty the 71-68 win.
Notes:
- Today marks the Sun’s third home loss of the season, two of which were at the hands of the Liberty. Connecticut is now 9-3 at Mohegan Sun Arena in 2024.
- Connecticut outrebounded New York, 35-33. The Liberty only grabbed one offensive rebound in the game. The Sun held the Liberty to zero offensive rebounds in their first meeting this season (June 8).
- The Liberty outscored the Sun in the paint (40-26) and off the bench (8-7), but the Sun held the advantage in second chance points (11-2). Both teams notched nine fast break points.
- Connecticut only grabbed one steal in the game, marking a new season-low and the first time since June 26, 2018 the team has notched one steal in a game. The Sun have only had one steal in a game four times in franchise history.
- Alyssa Thomas finished with just three points (a season-low), going 1-4 from the field. The last game she scored three points or less came on August 1, 2020 (three points).
- New York entered today’s matchup making a league-best 10.4 three-point field goals per game. The Sun held them to just three three-pointers, as they went 3/13 from beyond the arc.
| Team | Score | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Q4 | PTS | REB | AST |
| CON | 68 | 19 | 19 | 16 | 14 | Bonner- 22 | Bonner/Thomas- 9 | Thomas- 8 |
| NYL | 71 | 29 | 10 | 20 | 12 | Ionescu- 21 | Stewart- 14 | Fiebich/Ionescu- 5 |
NEXT GAME: The Connecticut Sun play their final home game before the Olympic break against the Phoenix Mercury on Sunday, July 14 at 1:00 PM ET at Mohegan Sun Arena.