MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Alyssa Thomas tied a career-high with 28 points, DeWanna Bonner had 25 points and 10 rebounds, and the Connecticut Sun beat the Minnesota Lynx 90-75 on Wednesday night to advance to their fifth straight WNBA playoff semifinals.
Connecticut will play the New York Liberty on Sunday in a best-of-five series. The Sun lost all four regular-season games with the Liberty this season. It was the second consecutive season that the Sun went on the road to win Game 3 of their first round playoff series.
Tyasha Harris added 18 points off the bench for Connecticut. She made four of the Sun’s nine 3-pointers. Thomas also had 12 assists and six rebounds.
Napheesa Collier led Minnesota with 31 points. Kayla McBride, who scored 28 points in Game 2 on Sunday, was held to 10 points on 3-of-12 shooting.
Connecticut made eight of its first nine shots and scored 14 straight points to take a 20-6 lead. Minnesota was within 32-29 before Connecticut scored the next 11 points for a 14-point lead. The Sun made 11 of their last 13 shots of the first half, including Bonner’s baseline jumper just before the buzzer for a 49-34 lead.
Bonner and Thomas scored or assisted on 40 of the Sun’s 49 first-half points. Bonner was 5 of 6 from the field in the first half for 14 points and Thomas also scored 14 points on 7-of-12 shooting.
Bonner made two 3-pointers in the opening 3:05 of the third quarter for a 57-38 lead.
Bonner became the third player in WNBA playoff history with 1,000 points and 500 rebounds, joining Tamika Catchings and Candace Parker.