– by Adesina O. Koiki
A Lot of Sports Talk editor-in-chief
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UNCASVILLE, CONNECTICUT — After a rare appearance coming off the bench in her team’s last game, Tina Charles assumed her customary role as a starter on Wednesday — and also resumed being the dominant post player she’s been throughout her illustrious career to spur the Connecticut Sun to a rousing comeback.
Charles set season highs with 29 points and 11 rebounds as the Sun dominated the fourth quarter to erase an eight-point deficit and defeat the Seattle Storm 93-83 inside Mohegan Sun Arena. Jacy Sheldon chipped in with 16 points while Bria Hartley added 15 as the Sun snapped their 10-game losing streak and won their first game since June 6.
Connecticut entered the fourth trailing 74-66 but outscored the Storm 27-9 in the final stanza, taking their first lead of the game when Charles hit a baseline jumper with 5:36 remaining to give the Sun a 79-77 advantage. Charles proceeded to make back-to-back layups in an eight-second span later in the quarter that opened up a double-digit lead, coming in the midst of an 11-0 run that put the game out of reach for Seattle.
The Sun made 10 of their 17 field-goal attempts (58.8 percent) in the fourth and held Seattle to just 3-of-14 from the field while forcing six Storm turnovers during the game’s final 10 minutes.
Saniya Rivers scored all 11 of her points for Connecticut in the first five minutes of the third quarter.
Skylar Diggins led the Storm with 23 points and seven assists while Gabby Williams had 21. Nneka Ogwumike had 12 points and 12 rebounds. Diggins, Williams, Ogwumike and Ezi Magbegor each scored in double figures in the first half when the Storm built a 49-41 advantage.
*Editor’s note: Above the byline is the photo gallery from Wednesday 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 23 pictures in total.
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