Jun. 6—MOHEGAN — The New York Liberty have had one of the most entertaining offenses early in this WNBA season using spacing and a bevy of threes to get out to their best start in four seasons.
The Connecticut Sun managed to put the brakes on New York in the second half of Saturday night’s game.
Sun post Jonquel Jones had a game-high 31 points and 13 rebounds as Connecticut used both its defense and superior size to down the Liberty, 85-64, before 2,118 at Mohegan Sun Arena.
New York led, 33-29, with 3 minutes, 53 seconds left in the first half. It also outshot the Sun in the first half, 53.6-percent to 42.9.
The Liberty shot just 33.3-percent (9 of 27) in the second half and were held 20 points under their season-average.
“They shot crazy in the first half,” Sun Jasmine Thomas said. “We made a concerted effort (at halftime) to be better (defensively) and kind of force them to take some shots they didn’t want to take in the second half.”
New York’s Betnijah Laney was the league’s third-leading scorer prior to the game. She made just 4 of 12 shots and scored eight with the 6-foot-4 DeWanna Bonner covering her the most.
“It starts with an individual effort,” Sun head coach Curt Miller said. “We tried to put length on (Laney) with DB. We had attention to her. She’s such a focal point on-and-off the ball.
“Jasmine Thomas (nine assists) was individually terrific on Sabrina Ionescu. We showed a lot of attention to her.”
Jonquel Jones, May’s Eastern Conference Player of the Month, scored 29 after the first quarter. She made 12 of 16 shots.
“We understood that they were going to play a ‘small ball’ lineup,” Jones said. “While it gives them some advantages offensively, we understood that defensively they were going to be really,…
