– by Adesina O. Koiki
A Lot of Sports Talk editor-in-chief
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UNCASVILLE, CONNECTICUT — Brittney Griner comes back to the lineup and the Connecticut Sun soon get back in the win column afterward.
Coincidence? We think not.
Griner filled the stat sheet with 20 points and six assists in just 24 minutes as the Sun jumped out to a double-digit lead for the majority of the game before holding on late to defeat the Portland Fire 90-87 inside Mohegan Sun Arena in a Tuesday matinée. Fellow frontcourt player Aaliyah Edwards led Connecticut with 21 points coming off the bench.
The Sun lost their previous two games before Tuesday, with Griner missing both because of a left quad contusion, but before that streak, the 35-year-old center flashed her All-Star form in an impressive road win against the WNBA’s best team, the Minnesota Lynx, with a 29-point, 10-rebound, two-block, two-steal performance as Connecticut pulled off one of the surprises of the season in Minneapolis on July 6.
On Tuesday, Griner scored 14 of her 20 points in the second half in helping the Sun, first, maintain a healthy margin in the third quarter before seeing off a furious Portland rally late.
The Fire faced their largest deficit of 15, 70-55, with 1:42 remaining in the third but responded with a 16-2 run bridging the end of the third and start of the fourth to cut the Sun’s lead down to one (72-71). However, despite two other times in the quarter that Portland cut the lead to one, it never took the lead.
Edwards, who scored 13 first-quarter points, scored four straight — on a jumper and two free throws — to extend the Sun lead to 88-83 after the last time Portland cut the lead to one with 2:27 remaining on an Emily Engstler runner. The lead extended to seven with 1:13 remaining before back-to-back baskets by Sarah Ashlee Barker and Bridget Carleton and consecutive defensive stands gave Portland one final chance to tie.
After a timeout, Carleton missed a corner three-pointer at the buzzer that would have tied the game.
Carla Leite led four players who scored in double figures for the Fire with 18 points while dishing out six assists.
*Editor’s note: Above the byline is the photo gallery from Tuesday morning’s game, with photos taken by New England-based photographer Amy Abramson-Denhoff. After clicking on a photo to enlarge the picture, press the left and right arrow buttons on either side of the caption to scroll through the rest of the pictures that appear on the first page. Also, click on the numbers and/or arrow appearing immediately below the picture grid to load the next set of photos. There are 26 pictures in total.
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