– by Adesina O. Koiki
A Lot of Sports Talk editor-in-chief
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UNCASVILLE, CONNECTICUT — On Sunday morning, Connecticut Sun guard Ty Harris got the call that she was back in the starting lineup. By Sunday evening, it was her play that made the difference in keeping the Sun’s season alive as they moved one step closer to the WNBA Finals.
Harris scored 20 points to lead all Sun scorers as Connecticut came back from a seven-point halftime deficit to defeat the Minnesota Lynx 92-82 inside Mohegan Sun Arena to tie the WNBA semifinals best-of-five series at two games apiece. Alyssa Thomas had 18 points, 11 assists and eight rebounds for Connecticut, who will return with the Lynx to Minneapolis for a deciding fifth game inside the Target Center on Tuesday evening.
Harris, who injured her ankle during Game 1 of Connecticut’s first-round series against the Indiana Fever, returned to the starting lineup for the first time since that game and provided a spark, which included hitting four of her five three-pointers on the evening.
Returning from the ankle injury in Game 2 of this series, Harris had played just a combined total 12:21 in the prior two games before seeing the court for over 30 minutes today. Connecticut coach Stephanie White said she told Harris during the morning shootaround that she would go back into the starting lineup to replace Marina Mabrey.
“Stay composed, be poised and be ready when your number is called,” Harris said.
The Sun had to stay composed when it found themselves down seven, 50-43, at the break. Connecticut quickly evened the score at 57-57 at the 5:46 mark of the third quarter on a DeWanna Bonner jumper, and after a defensive stop and offensive rebound, DiJonai Carrington gave the Sun the lead on a short jumper at the midway point of the quarter.
The decisive surge came at the end of the third, however, when the Sun scored seven of the final nine points of the quarter — including an Alyssa Thomas layup right before the buzzer to give Connecticut a 68-63 lead.
Connecticut only expanded on that lead in the fourth as it shot a blistering 67 percent in the final frame (10-for-15), as both Bonner and Thomas each went perfect on three shots from the field and Thomas dishing out five assists. The win marked the first victory in the Sun’s playoff history in which it trailed by at least seven points at halftime, as Connecticut was 0-15 in such instances before this evening.
*Editor’s note: Above the byline is the photo gallery from Sunday evening’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 30 pictures in total.
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