– by Adesina O. Koiki
A Lot of Sports Talk editor-in-chief
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BOSTON — Inside of the arena where more professional basketball championship banners hang in its rafters than any other, another long-awaited piece of history was made on Tuesday evening: the first (of what should be many more) Women’s National Basketball Association game at TD Garden and in the historic city of Boston.
And, just like the majority of games to take place inside of its doors before tonight, it was the New England-based squad who came through to take the victory, using a suffocating defense that, if it continues to carry over the next month-plus, could lead to their own championship banner being raised before too long.
DiJonai Carrington scored 19 points while Alyssa Thomas produced another stellar all-around performance to lead the Connecticut Sun to a 69-61 victory over the Los Angeles Sparks, played in front of a sellout crowd of 19,125 inside TD Garden.
“It felt great,” guard DiJonai Carrington said. “It felt like what every night should feel like.”
It was more than fitting that the first WNBA game in Beantown matched up teams in New England and Southern California, given the slew of legendary games that turned the Los Angeles Lakers vs. Boston Celtics rivalry to one of the most enduring in team sports — a rivalry running so deep that “Beat L.A.” chants rang inside TD Garden a number of times throughout tonight’s game, a cool connection between old Boston Garden’s past and the much more diverse crowd of the present day. It also was in line with the Sun to win a back-and-forth defensive struggle, where the team who leads the WNBA in opponents points per game and second in defensive rating held the Sparks to just 41 points and 34 percent shooting in the final three quarters combined (17-for-50).
That atmosphere and defensive effort coalesced into a crescendo late in the fourth quarter, when Brionna Jones hustled onto the floor for a loose ball to gain possession away from the Sparks’ Li Yueru with the Sun down 59-57. Jones bounced a pass to Tyasha Harris, who raced down the floor to attempt a layup, a miss that was rebounded by Thomas, who then scored on the put-back as part of an and-1. On the night, Thomas had nine points, 16 rebounds and eight assists.
Thomas’ free throw put the Sun ahead for good, and that three-point play was the start of an 11-0 run — and a game-ending 14-2 spirt — that put the game away. Even more satisfying for the Sun crowd was seeing former Connecticut head coach Curt Miller ejected from the game in the final minute.
“It’s incredible. It speaks to our continued growth as a league. It speaks to the women’s basketball fans here in the New England area, and New England-area sports fans in general,” Sun head coach Stephanie White said. “They’re passionate about their sports.”
Carrington, arguably the frontrunner for the league’s Most Improved Player, got out to a hot start, scoring 12 of her points in the first half. Harris (11 points) and Jones (10) also scored in double figures in the first half, with the former knocking down three three-pointers as the Sun turned a 20-17 first-quarter deficit into a 41-35 halftime lead.
*Editor’s note: Above the byline is the photo gallery from Tuesday evening’s game, with photos taken by ALOST staff photographer Erica 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 43 pictures in total.
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