Sun 71, Sky 62: A win is a win, no matter how tough to watch

The Sun won 71-62 Wednesday night at Mohegan Sun Arena, and in a season that has seen many, many more losses than wins, we’ll take it.

But, buddy, that was a tough watch in the second half as a Chicago team that has basically mailed it in for 2025 and without its best two players crawled back into the game in the second half as Marina Mabrey missed shot after shot.

Yes, it could have ended worse, of course. Saniya Rivers, Tina Charles, and Leila Lacan all made buckets down the stretch to save the Sun from a potential disaster. And it’s something that Connecticut is now clearly better than another team in the WNBA, that did not seem terribly likely a couple of months back.

And the Sun have a reasonably favorable schedule the rest of the way: two more games with the Sky, two with stumbling Washington (next week), hosting Indiana without Caitlin Clark on Sunday, there is some potential to get a few more wins, double digits from where the campaign started would be a solid accomplishment for Rachid Meziane and crew.

However, it will have to be better than it was at the offensive end than it was in the second half. It also can’t be Mabrey and Charles taking every shot in sets that have no flow. The Sun were at their best when they were pressuring and running, and clearly Lacan and Rivers are most comfortable that way and it will be up to the front office to try to surround them with players that can help them going forward.

Wins always feel better the next day no matter how ugly, and I’m sure this one will as well. Certainly beats the alternative.  

What else did we learn Wednesday as we had three more ejections (including former Sun Rebecca Allen, of all people)?:

 

1. Leila Lacan was a nightmare for Hailey Van Lith (and Sevgi Uzun)  - If you’ve followed, you know it was Hailey Van Lith that torched the Sun in Chicago’s win at Mohegan Sun Arena in June, but Lacan was having none of that Wednesday as Van Lith could barely hold on to the ball, let alone get into the paint. At one point, Van Lith couldn’t even get to half court before an eight-second violation, which was really fun to watch. Van Lith and Uzun combined for 0-for-2 shooting with 3 assists and 6 turnovers in 39 minutes. 

2. Losing Ariel Atkins changed the game - It’s been a miserable season for Tyler Marsh, and he’s most likely done when the season ends, but he’s had some bad luck, too, like Ariel Atkins bumping a referee in the second quarter scuffle between Bria Hartley and Rebecca Allen. Allen seemed to have a gripe that Hartley (inadvertently) elbowed her, but took it out on Hartley at the other end, which led to shoving and ejections. Atkins was going at Hartley, but clearly bumped the referee, and that can’t be tolerated. Atkins - who has also had a rough season - was playing fairly well and was the one player that could get to the rim (other than Kamilla Cardoso obviously), the Sky had no penetration without her.

3. What of Aneesah Morrow and Aaliyah Edwards -  Edwards just got here, but what the role for these two players going forward and how big it will be are open and tough questions. Wednesday, Morrow finished with 9 points and 9 rebounds, and had a couple of huge buckets in the first quarter, but looked like a defensive liability in the second half as old friend Elizabeth Williams was just killing her on the glass and in the paint (Williams had 15 rebounds). Morrow also had trouble defending guards. Edwards only got 12 minutes and ended up with a single rebound, again unable to get into the flow. As we’ve said before, though, this is the time for them to play and see what they can do.

Player of the game:  Leila Lacan - Rivers might have had the Block of the Season, but Lacan finished with 17 points, 5 assists, 4 rebounds, and 2 steals, in addition to the defense that doesn’t show in the boxscore. A decent amount of the improvement for the Sun can be directly traced to Lacan.

Inside the numbers : 5 -  Number of turnovers for Connecticut, so that was not the problem on offense. They also forced 19, but that honestly seemed low given the matchup, you’d like to see the Sun’s identity make them even more aggressive, especially against a team that was clearly flustered. 

Under the radar: See above, but it was a little baffling that the Sun backed off the Sky guards in the second half, allowing them to enter the ball to Cardoso, who had a huge night (24 points, 9 rebounds). When they forced Chicago to scramble, it was fun to watch and the Sky could do nothing. Saniya Rivers is so much fun to watch in those situations.

The Sky have been on the struggle bus for a while now, and their body language (other than Williams and a couple of others, perhaps) was not great for most of the night. As poorly as the Sun have played, we haven’t really seen that, so the coaching staff deserves some credit for that.

Hartley’s incident was the second in as many meetings for her with the Sky, last time it was (what appeared to be an accidental) hairpull of Angel Reese. Surely that contributed to Atkins flying off the handle quickly when tonight’s incident went down.

Quotable:  “I think putting 40 minutes together is going to be very important to us in the future, and we haven't always done that this season.” - Saniya Rivers

Next up: Sunday vs. Indiana (without Caitlin Clark), 1 p.m. EDT