WNBA Connecticut Sun

Sun edge Dream in OT

Published on June 27, 2008 under Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA)
Connecticut Sun News Release


- Amber Holt had a career-high eight assists in the contest.

- With 109 points, the Sun scored in triple-digits for the second time this season. The first time was on May 17, also against Atlanta in Mohegan Sun Arena (100-67). It is the fifth time in the past two seasons that the Sun have scored 100 or more points and the sixth time overall.

- Asjha Jones (30), Tamika Whitmore (28) and Lindsay Whalen (20) all scored 20 or more points in the game. It was the first time that three players had reached 20 since July 7, 2007 at Los Angeles. Katie Douglas (28), Evina Maltsi (23) and Jones (21) accomplished the feat that day.

- With her 30 points, Jones became just the third player in Connecticut Sun history to scored 30 or more twice in a career. Jones scored 31 at Chicago on May 31, 2007. She joins Shannon Johnson, who scored 30 or more three times, and Nykesha Sales, who did it twice.

- The 44 points scored by Betty Lennox in the game is the most every by a Sun opponent, eclipsing the 36 scored by Deanna Nolan on July 24, 2007. Lennox's 44 points ties for the third-highest individual game total in WNBA history with Cynthia Cooper, who scored 44 on July 25, 1997 against Sacramento. The WNBA record is 47 points, which was set by Diana Taurasi on Aug. 10, 2006 in a triple-overtime contest at Houston.

- Lennox was 17-of-32 from the field in the game, and her 32 attempts is the second-most for an individual in a single-game in WNBA history. Diana Taurasi attempted 33 shots at Houston on Aug. 10, 2006. The 17 made field goals for Lennox is the highest for a WNBA player this season and ties for the second-most in league history.

- Asjha Jones (30 points, 10 rebounds) and Lindsay Whalen (20 points, 10 rebounds) became just the fifth tandem in Sun history to record a double-double in the same game. The two also were the last duo to accomplish the feat, as Jones (22 points, 12 rebounds) and Whalen (12 points, 10 rebounds) each had a double-double on June 17, 2007 against Chicago. Jones now has four double-doubles for her career and Whalen has five.

- The 35 free throws made by the Sun tonight ties the franchise record. It has happed twice before for Connecticut. It is also the most a team has made in a game this year in the WNBA. The 42 free throws attempts tied for the third-highest total in Connecticut Sun history. Tonight's game was the third time the Sun have attempted 42 free throws.

- The 109 points scored by the Sun is the most this season and is tied for the second most ever in franchise history. The Sun had 110 at Los Angeles on July 7, 2007 and 109 at Phoenix on July 6, 2007.

- Tamika Whitmore tied her career-high with 13 free throw attempts. Her 28 points is a season-high and was one point shy of her career-best of 29, which was on June 18, 2006 against Charlotte. She also tied her season-high with eight made field goals.

- Asjha Jones set a new career-high with 13 made field goals. That total ties her with Nykesha Sales and Lindsay Whalen for the most in franchise history. She also matched her career-high with 21 field goal attempts and her 10 rebounds were a season-high.

- Jones's 30 points marked the fourth time the last 10 games that she has scored at least 20 points.

CONNECTICUT SUN QUOTES

Head Coach Mike Thibault On the game "Wow. Well, we kept everybody entertained. That was a hell of a basketball game. We made mistakes but they made great plays, too. That was as good of a performance that I have seen by somebody in a game start to finish (Betty Lennox). We helped her a little bit but she made some great shots herself. We had some pretty good performances ourselves from our post players in the second half and in the overtime. I guess it kind of became a test of wills versus whatever you want to call what she was tonight. She reminded me tonight of Allen Iverson. That's who I thought she played like. It was a heck of a game."

"I thought we were wearing the post down. I thought we could get them in early foul trouble in the fourth quarter and in early overtime which we did. I thought we would have a match-up by starting Sandrine in the overtime that we'd have one mismatch somewhere in the post for three or four possessions before I took her out. We could jump ball that way and get the first possession and that was a big key. We struggled a lot in areas. Our bench probably had the toughest performance they have had in a while. But we'll take the win. It's going to be in that left hand column and in a month, no one will remember who it was against. I'm glad tonight is over. I actually had a premonition this afternoon about an overtime game which is not a good premonition to have."

On Asjha Jones developing as a player "She has great self confidence right now in both her post game and her jump shot. Tonight I thought her passes with Whitmore were terrific. They played higher basketball. I just think her game has expanded this year. Her range has gotten better this year. She's gotten a turn around in the post and a jump hook and now she has become an 80% free throw shooter on top of it. It's hard to pick your poison when you play against her. There are some nights when I think we let her disappear. Some of that is on me and some of that is on her teammates but tonight is the best balance we have had in she and Tamika Whitmore in three or four weeks where we had them both involved in our offense tonight."

On Ketia Swanier successfully defending Betty Lennox late in the game "She did a terrific job. I thought Amber's (Holt) speed would keep up with her and have some length on her but Betty gets her shoulders below the bigger players sometimes and gets a step on them. I thought Ketia except for one or two possessions did a good job staying in front of her. I thought our post players should have helped her a little more on a couple of buckets she did have. Whether they were running the same play or we talked about how to defend it, we got caught out of position a couple of times and shouldn't have allowed it to happen. I'll give Betty some credit on that too but I thought Ketia was a huge influence in the game down the stretch."

Lindsay Whalen On the win "Just glad that we got the win. As an athlete you just have to focus on what you can do and what your team can do. Everything else just takes care of itself. You just have to focus on personnel and the scouting report and just know what to do when you get out there. You can't really think about a whole lot of other things, you just have to think about what you can control. You had a player that had some unbelievable shots and made some great plays. They hit some timely shots and some deep shots and all kinds of things. I think they banked in a three at one point. They got it going and it's due to the talent in the league and the players in the team and in that team and in our team. The level that everyone brings their games to and it showed tonight. A lot of great individual performances and two teams that played well too."

On Sunday's match up verses the Mercury "They can get it going. The two leading scorers in the league (Cappie Pondexter and Diana Taurasi) obviously can get it going. We found out just 10 days ago when Taurasi kind of got it going. We just have to be ready to come out Sunday afternoon at 1:00pm and be ready to go."

On the play of Asjha Jones in overtime "She hit some huge shots. A couple and ones. Then Whit got going in overtime. They just came down and kind of pounded it inside and said go to work and they went to work. Eventually we got the lead up to a little more than one or two. It was good."

Asjha Jones On the Dream "They scored big points. Going into the game we said that and at this level, there are no easy teams. This day and age everyone is tough. Even though they haven't won a game, they are always right there in them. We knew going in that if we didn't have energy and focus that we could have been that team (that lost)."

On tonight being a warm up for Phoenix "We have been doing this for a while now. We had Phoenix already and Detroit a couple of times. Our guards have had to work really hard. Every game they have had an assignment they've had to work on."

Check out the Connecticut Sun Statistics

Share: Facebook | Twitter/X | LinkedIn | Reddit | Email



Women's National Basketball Association Stories from June 27, 2008


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central