NOTES

• With the 89-75 victory, the Connecticut Sun are now 7-1. That is the best start for the team since 2015, when it was also 7-1.
• Chiney Ogwumike began the game needing 11 points to reach 1,000 for her career, and finished the game with exactly 11. She is the 199th player in WNBA history to score 1,000 points.
• Ogwumike had her first double-double (11 points, 11 rebounds) of the season, pulling down a season-high 11 rebounds. It was her first double-double since September 18, 2016 at Washington, when she had 10 points and 10 rebounds in an 87-78 soon over the Mystics
• Alyssa Thomas had 11 rebounds, but was held to single digits scoring for the first time this season.
• Courtney Williams had a season-high 22 points. That is the most since she posted a career high 27 against Seattle (8/8/17).
• Jasmine Thomas had 18 points with four assists. In the last two games, she is averaging 18.5 points and six assists on 13 of 28 shooting.
• Shekinna Stricklen had three more three-pointers on the way to 11 points off the bench. She has nine three-pointers is the last four games.
• Sylvia Fowles led Minnesota with 20 points and 14 rebounds. It is her seventh double-double of the season.
• Maya Moore added 17 points this afternoon and grabbed five rebounds while also swiping a season and game-high four steals. Over her last five games, Moore is averaging 19.4 points per game.
• Endy Miyem scored her first WNBA basket this afternoon including her first three-pointer while finishing with five points, one rebounds and a blocked shot.

CONNECTICUT SUN QUOTES

Head Coach Curt Miller

Opening Statement

“Certainly happy with that win, we were very tough tonight, and physical, we matched their physicality. When that schedule came out and I saw this stretch: five games in nine days in five different cities, every team goes through it in a compacted schedule. But for us to go 4-1, even in the game we lost, we gave ourselves a legitimate shot to get to the finish line in Atlanta, is remarkable. I can’t be more proud of that stretch. To understand what goes through when you’re playing in five games in nine days in five different cities, the wakeup calls, the commercial flights, breakfast and lunch always in the airports, you land, you grab your bags and you go right to practice, you get checked in and the next day you’re waking up to a shoot around or a walkthrough. For us to go 4-1 in that stretch is simply remarkable and a credit to that locker room. They believe in each other, care for each other, play for each other. Really, really proud of that stretch, they’ve earned this day off desperately. They want more than one day off, but they’ve earned that one day off desperately. So, really, really proud. That is a championship team in the other locker room, they threw some haymakers at us. There’s things that we need to learn from that game that we did not handle well. They did a really nice job, but there’s some X’s and O’s, aspects of the game that we need to handle better when other people look at the tape and try to mimic that. So, this is a big win for us but we’ll learn a lot from this tape.”

In that third quarter, when you went on that 10-0 run, did that say something about this team?

“Well, this league is about runs, and that’s a championship team, you know they were going to make a run at us. I thought we were a little sluggish out of the locker room. Again, our baskets were high again today but our assists on our basket were lower than normal. They forced us into a bunch of one-on-one plays. We didn’t move them as much as we wanted, we settled for our first action and tried to make those plays. That’s a credit to them, but big answer, Courtney (Williams) kept us afloat when we didn’t have a lot going early, Strick (Shekinna Stricklen) was huge for us, got loose in transition, can always step up and make a big three. We just kept on throwing bodies. We planned on using Brionna (Jones) a lot more tonight than we did. We just kept throwing bodies between JJ (Jonquel Jones) and Chiney (Ogwumike) at fouls and tried to give her different looks with other people coming to congest her. She’s a load to guard one-on-one. Again, a lot of people contributed tonight but Courtney (Williams) kept us alive early and Strick (Shekinna Stricklen) was really big in the momentum stretch, got the crowd into it. Almost got the crowd as into it as free t-shirts.”

Jasmine Thomas

On coming back in the fourth quarter

“The team is always going to make runs and how you react to them, how you respond is extremely important and it is a sign of our maturity. I feel like a couple seasons ago, maybe we would have gotten down and had to scrap back in the 4th but trying to assert ourselves, stay confident, and stay together until the end of the game.”

Courtney Williams

Is this a nice building block for you guys for the rest of the season?

“For sure. I think we’re following our game plan, we’re playing the way we play and it’s been working out well for us.”

They made a run at you in the third quarter and you guys bounced right back to take a double digit lead, how big is that and is that a sign of maturity for this team?

“I think it shows our toughness. A big thing about our team is that we like to play tough and when things aren’t going our way we make sure we stay in the game and keep that same mindset.”

How dangerous is this team? Because every game, someone else steps up. There are a lot of stars on this team

“I think the biggest thing that Coach is trying to tell us is to have a pack mentality and I think that is what we have. All of us are scorers, all of us can have a night. So, I think that’s a big thing for our team”

MINNESOTA LYNX QUOTES

Head Coach Cheryl Reeve

On Connecticut’s rebounding in the second half

“Whatever labels you want to put on it, they had 15 second-chance points in the second half.”

Where do you guys go from here?

“Back to Minneapolis. Back to Minneapolis and we have some days off so we’ll see if we can win our next game.”

Sylvia Fowles

On returning home to regroup after a long road trip

“Yeah, we can’t keep shooting ourselves in the foot. We had Connecticut right where we wanted them, had a couple turnovers to let them get shots up and had a couple of missed assignments. That happened in the last couple of games. We’re just going to have to make sure we lock in and just refocus and regroup.”

On the rebounding struggles and allowing second-chance points

“Yeah, it’s something we can fix, we do it every game. It’s just a lack of focus. I don’t know why our focus wasn’t there tonight. Like I said, we missed some assignments that we shouldn’t have missed, but we’ll go watch some film and get ready for the next one.”

Can you draw from past years’ success to improve upon your current struggles?

“We’re a veteran team. These girls have been here for a while and they know how to win. We just have to make sure we’re locking in and getting everyone on the same page.”

Maya Moore

On letting the game get away in the second half

“It’s always a combination of one team’s will and the other team increasing focus and will. It’s a game of wills. We have to control what we can control and I have to continue to take care of the ball and not set ourselves up. We missed a lot of shots we normally make, combined with not willing ourselves to be better in the fourth. It’s disappointing, but we’re going to keep pushing to fix the things that we can.”

Is there a sense of urgency with fixing the team’s recent struggles?

“That’s absolutely what needs to happen. I think we have it in moments. We just have to continue to put four quarters together. It’s a combination of effort and focus, we have to execute on both sides of the ball.”