The Connecticut Sun used a balanced offensive attack with four players scoring in double digits to stop the Washington Mystics, 82-75, before 6,717 fans at the Mohegan Sun Arena on Saturday night. Renee Montgomery and Tina Charles both rebounded from off games in Thursday’s 72-59 home loss to San Antonio, to lead the Connecticut offensive attack with 16 points apiece. Charles, who saw her league-tying record streak of seven consecutive double-doubles snapped in the San Antonio game, did not register a Double-D on Sunday either, hauling down just seven boards. Danielle McCray scored 12 points and Lawson added 10 for the Sun, who improved to 15-8 and move within 1.5 games of first-place Indiana in the Eastern Conference race.
While Charles and Montgomery grabbed the headlines with their return to form, it was Lawson and Tan White who stole the spotlight by reaching major career milestones. Lawson, one of the top point guards in WNBA history, picked up five assists to break the 600 barrier, and White, who had a near Double-D (nine points and a career-high 10 boards) joined the 2,000 career points club.
Crystal Langhorne led the Mystics with 17 points despite sitting on the pines for all but 24 seconds of the third period after picking up her fourth foul. Matee Ajavon and Marisa Coleman had 14 points apiece and DeMya Walker, who was released by the Sun a few weeks earlier and quickly claimed by the Mystics, added 12 for Washington.
“[Walker] provides that veteran leadership that we so desperately need,” said Mystics coach Trudi Lacey, whose team fell to 5-16, last in the Eastern Conference. “We have a very young team and DeMya just has a presence about her. She is tough. She added a lot of toughness to our roster. She understands the game and I feel like she and I are on the same page. She helps out the players so much. I know that Connecticut misses her here, but we love the fact that she is in Washington.”
The Mystics broke out quickly and held a three-point advantage, 29-26, after the first quarter. But largely thank to a perfect 11-for-11 first-half performance from the charity stripe, the Sun took a 44-43 lead into the locker room at intermission.
The game remained neck-and-neck, with Connecticut taking a two-point advantage into the fourth quarter. But after a short jumper by Langhorne knotted the game at 63 points apiece a buck forty-five into the fourth frame, the Sun applied the defensive clamps and held the Mystics scoreless for the next four minutes, assuming a lead they would not relinquish.
“It’s another conference win,” said Connecticut head coach Mike Thibault. “We got better as the game went along. I don’t know whether it was their great shooting or our bad defense in the first quarter, but after that we look like we’re supposed to look.
“Hopefully some of it was our good defense and not their legs wearing out. We’ll take it.”
For Walker, a fan favorite during her short one-plus year stay in the Nutmeg State, it was a bittersweet homecoming.
“It was strange,” said Walker, who has also played for Portland and Sacramento in the WNBA, although those teams folded meaning she never has had to play against a former team until Sunday. “It was a lot of fun to see [her ex-Sun teammates]. They will always be my girls.”
Speaking of homecomings, the Sun now must grab a quick breath and prepare for the return of Maya Moore when the UConn legend leads the Western Conference-leading Minnesota Lynx into the Mohegan Sun Arena (along with and former UConn star Charde Houston and former Sun favorites Lindsay Whalen and Taj McWilliams-Franklin) on Tuesday for a 7:30 tip-off. The game will be televised on Comcast Sports-New England (CS-NE) and webcast on WNBA Live Access.
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