Sun win 10th straight, rout Wings
ARLINGTON, Texas — Brionna Jones had 18 points, 10 rebounds and three steals and Connecticut beat the Dallas Wings 83-56 on Tuesday night for the Sun’s 10th win in a row.
Connecticut (22-6) played frenetic and smothering defense, led by Briann January who helped limit the Wings to 27% shooting from the field. The Sun moved two games ahead of Las Vegas in the standings.
Dallas’ Arike Ogunbowale finished with eight points on 2-of-17 shooting. The No. 5 overall pick in the 2019, Ogunbowale had her string of 65 consecutive games scoring 10-plus points — the fifth longest streak of its kind in WNBA history — snapped.
The Sun never trailed, used an 11-0 run to take a 25-8 lead late in the first quarter and led by as many as 33 points.
Marina Mabrey led the Wings (12-17) with 16 points. Dallas is fighting for one of the final two playoff spots.
STORM 105, MYSTICS 71
EVERETT, Wash. — Jewell Loyd scored 20 points, Sue Bird added 14 points and seven assists and the Seattle Storm cruised to a 105-71 win over the Washington Mystics on Tuesday night.
The Storm (20-10) moved into third place in the playoff race with two games to play. Seattle raced out to a 10-point lead in the first quarter, hitting eight 3-pointers. Bird made all four of her attempts from behind the arc in the quarter.
Seattle kept it going and Katie Lou Samuelson was fouled as she hit a 3 in transition and converted the 4-point play to give Seattle a 67-45 lead with 6:28 left in the third quarter. Moments later Breanna Stewart gingerly walked to the locker room and did not return to action.
Shavonte Zellous hit four 3-pointers and finished with 17 points for Washington (10-18), which fell a half-game behind New York for the final playoff spot.