Sun continue unbeaten start after fun play goes very wrong for Wings

The Connecticut Sun extended their undefeated start to 7–0 to begin the 2024 WNBA season, squeaking out a 74–72 win over the Dallas Wings on Friday night. Connecticut remains the league’s lone undefeated squad.

However, the Sun nearly suffered their first loss on what would have been an incredible play by guard Sevgi Uzun with 9.6 seconds left. Inbounding the ball from under the Connecticut basket, Uzun bounced the ball off the back of Brionna Jones. She then got the live ball ricochet off Jones and took a shot from inside the foul line.

Had Uzun’s shot gone in, it might have been the game winner for Dallas. Instead, the ball hit off the back of the rim. Maddy Siegrist couldn’t hang on to the offensive rebound and Tyasha Harris corraled the ball for Connecticut. She was fouled and hit one of two free throws to give the Sun its final margin of victory and a 5–0 start at home.

Connecticut’s 7–0 start extends the best start in franchise history. However, the Sun have quite far to go before they approach WNBA history. The Minnesota Lynx began their 2016 season by going 13–0 before finishing with a 28–6 season and losing the WNBA Finals in five games to the Los Angeles Sparks.

Incidentally, the Sparks began their 2001 and 2003 seasons with a 9–0 start, so Connecticut isn’t far from tying the fourth-best start in league history.

The Sun looked sluggish to begin the game as Dallas ran out to a 7–0 lead. At one point, the Wings led by 11 before Connecticut worked its way back after a three-pointer by Tiffany Mitchell. The Sun went into halftime with a 40–34 lead and were ahead 59–50 to begin the fourth quarter, but an 8–0 run got Dallas right back into it as they fought to the end.

Jones led the Sun with 22 points on 10-for-14 shooting. Alyssa Thomas added 15 points, nine rebounds and 14 assists, while DeWanna Bonner scored 12. For Dallas, Arike Ogunbowale tallied 21 rebounds and seven assists. Siegrist added 17 points, shooting 8-for-8 from the field.

Up next for Connecticut is a road matchup with the Atlanta Dream on Sunday at 3 p.m. ET.