DeWanna Bonner scored a game-high 23 points on 7-of-9 shooting from 3-point range, leading the Connecticut Sun to an 80-67 victory over the Atlanta Dream on Sunday in Uncasville, Conn.
Tiffany Mitchell added 13 points off the bench for the Sun (17-4), which won their third consecutive game and tied the New York Liberty for the league’s best record. Brionna Jones chipped in 11 points, while Alyssa Thomas tallied seven points, seven rebounds and a game-high nine assists.
Allisha Gray led the Dream (7-13) with 19 points, followed by Tina Charles’ 13. Nia Coffey scored 11 for Atlanta, which fell for a fourth straight game. Laeticia Amihere pulled down a team-high eight rebounds off the bench.
Trailing by 11 points early in the third period, Atlanta cut its deficit to 37-30 after a pair of free throws from Gray and Charles’ layup at the 8:24 mark of the third quarter.
After Connecticut extended its lead to 12 on two free throws from DiJonai Carrington, Charles knocked down a triple, cutting the Dream’s deficit to 48-39 with 5:05 remaining in the third.
The Sun pulled ahead 57-45 before using an 8-0 run, including Bonner’s two triples, to take a 65-45 lead and force an Atlanta timeout with 58.1 seconds left in the quarter.
With seven minutes remaining in the fourth, Bonner knocked down her seventh 3-pointer of the game, giving the Sun a 72-52 advantage — their largest lead of the game.
Late in the first quarter, the Sun led 14-11 before Bonner and Nia Coffey traded 3-pointers. Bonner then connected on another triple, but Gray’s layup cut Atlanta’s deficit to 20-16 after one.
Neither team scored again until Brionna Jones’ layup at the 6:24 mark of the second quarter.
Leading by four with 4:54 left, the Sun went on an 8-0 scoring run, capped by Bonner’s 3-pointer to put Connecticut ahead 32-20.
Brionna Jones and Haley Jones traded mid-range jumpers on the last possessions of the first half, and the Sun led 34-24 at the break. The Dream managed just eight points in the second quarter.
Bonner led the way with 11 first-half points for the Sun, while Gray and Coffey each scored nine for Atlanta.
–Field Level Media