The Connecticut Sun went more than three years between regular-season victories over the Detroit Shock. Now they have a chance to make it two wins in three days against the defending Eastern Conference champions.

The Sun look to complete a home-and-home sweep of the Shock on Thursday as the East's top teams meet at The Palace of Auburn Hills.

The rivals entered Tuesday's matchup tied in the standings, but they had been anything but equals in head-to-head play in recent years.

Detroit (10-4) won nine straight games against Connecticut in the regular season dating to June 18, 2005, and the Shock also won a playoff series over the Sun in 2006 en route to their second WNBA title.

They won all four meetings with Connecticut by five points or fewer last year, when the Sun finished 18-16 after winning 26 games in each of the previous two seasons.

The Sun, however, have the WNBA's best record this year at 11-3, and they finally beat Detroit on Tuesday by dominating the fourth quarter of an 85-68 win.

Asjha Jones had 20 points to score in double digits for the eighth straight game, while rookie Amber Holt added a season-high 19. Connecticut had a 42-32 rebounding edge and held Detroit to 10 fourth-quarter points.

"The biggest difference for us was defense and rebounding," Sun point guard Lindsay Whalen said. "The offensive rebounds came at really timely points of the game."

After completing a 3-2 Western Conference road trip with a 72-56 win at Sacramento on Friday, Connecticut will be looking for a third consecutive victory - one that would give it a commanding lead in the East.

To do it, the Sun will have to hand the Shock their first home loss of the season. Detroit is the only WNBA team yet to lose at home, going 5-0 at the Palace.

Despite playing six of their last seven games on the road, the Shock had won three straight before Tuesday.

"We came in with a sense of entitlement, not urgency, and it cost us," Detroit coach Bill Laimbeer said. "We have some internal problems we need to fix."

After averaging 18.0 points and 6.7 rebounds in the previous three games, rookie Tasha Humphrey was shut out in both categories Tuesday while playing only 13 minutes.

Deanna Nolan led the Shock with 17 points against Connecticut, but she was 6-of-16 from the field and has been erratic. Since scoring 44 points against Minnesota on Friday, she's totaled 26 points in two games.