– by Adesina O. Koiki
A Lot of Sports Talk editor-in-chief
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UNCASVILLE, CONNECTICUT — This time around, the Connecticut Sun will embark on their first road trip of the WNBA Playoffs after thoroughly taking care of business at home.
Alyssa Thomas had 19 points and 13 assists while playing all 40 minutes, leading the third-seeded Sun to an 87-81 victory over the Indiana Fever inside a sold-out Mohegan Sun Arena to sweep the best-of-three first-round series in the WNBA Playoffs. Connecticut advances to the WNBA semifinals for a sixth consecutive season, and it will take on the No. 2 seed Minnesota Lynx to start that semifinal on Sunday in Minneapolis.
Since the WNBA adopted its current playoff format in 2022, when the first two games of the best-of-three first-round series takes place at the site of the higher seed (lower in number) before a potential winner-take-all Game 3 at the site of the lower seed, Connecticut had lost Game 2 in each of the past two seasons and were forced to play — and win — a deciding Game 3 in hostile territory, including the defeating the Lynx in last year’s first-round series.
It appeared that déjà vu was setting in late, as Aaliyah Boston’s layup with 2:05 remaining in the fourth quarter gave the Fever a 77-75 lead. On the next possession, however, DeWanna Bonner answered with a three-pointer to give Connecticut the lead for good. With 45 seconds remaining, Marina Mabrey, starting in place of the injured Tyasha Harris, hit a three to extend the Sun’s to four.
“Finally locked in and took advantage of home-court advantage,” said Thomas, who posted a triple-double in Game 1 on Sunday. “We’re ready. Tested tonight and it wasn’t pretty, but that’s the nature of playoffs. We pulled out a gutsy win. We’re hungry and ready. … We’re ready for what the playoff journey is going to unfold.”
Caitlin Clark led all scorers with 25 points as she rebounded from her struggles in her first-ever WNBA playoff game in Game 1 on Sunday. She also dished out nine assists as she and backcourt mate Kelsey Mitchell played all 40 minutes. Indiana trailed by seven at the half before reeling off the first seven points of the third quarter to tie the game, and were able to keep in close contact with the Sun throughout the rest of the contest.
“Obviously, it’s a tough one, especially as we climbed all the way back in and just to have our opportunities late,” Clark said.
The Sun closed out the third quarter on a 14-4 run, with Thomas scoring 10 of Connecticut’s points during that stretch.
The game also featured an incident in which Clark pointed out a fan in the stands on a stoppage in play that prompted security to escort the fan to the back temporarily. The fan returned later in the game.
*Editor’s note: Above the byline is the photo gallery from Wednesday evening’s game, with photos taken by New England-based photographer Joseph 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 52 pictures in total.
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