WNBA Playoffs: Sun tweaks roster and digs deep to keep season alive

Alyssa Thomas and DeWanna Bonner have the same routine at every home game.

After a shootout and media engagements, they go out to eat, just the two of them, at a local restaurant called When Pigs Fly. Thomas orders an omelette and Bonner gets bacon and eggs.

Since being drafted in 2014, Thomas has spent her entire WNBA career with the Sun. Bonner has been in Connecticut since 2020. Together they built a franchise and a life, reaching the WNBA Finals in 2022 and getting engaged in 2023.

“Connecticut feels like home,” Thomas said before the playoffs began.

But Thomas and Bonner are aware that the basketball aspect of their lives will likely change as this season ends. The franchise they helped build is at a turning point. Both will be free agents, and at 37, Bonner is heading toward retirement.

“I want to win. “I’m old,” Bonner said with a laugh on Sunday. “My schedule is very, very tight.”

Brionna Jones and DiJonai Carrington will also be free agents, making it unlikely that the core of the team will stay together.

The Sun played like a team with something to lose on Sunday. After years of closeness, they still have title ambitions. That dream was at stake in Game 4 when Connecticut was eliminated by the Lynx.

The Sun stayed alive, defeating the Lynx 92-82 and forcing Game 5.

“I wanted to leave everything out there,” Bonner said. “This was a matter of life or death.”

The Sun trailed 50-43 at halftime, but Bonner said she was confident in her team. They got the look they wanted and played hard, she said. Everything else would come.

“I don’t think anyone in that locker room was ready to part ways,” Bonner said. “We enjoy being together and have for a long time. We just strapped in and said, ‘This is it.’ There’s still 20 minutes left. Let’s put it all out there and see what happens.””

What happened was a 49-32 run by Connecticut in the second half.

Bonner scored seven of her 18 points in the third quarter to fuel the run, and the rest of the Sun followed suit.

Ty Harris finished with 20 points and led Connecticut in the points standings. She was 7 of 11 from the field and 4 of 5 from beyond the arc, providing a much-needed boost from 3-point range.

Harris did not play in the first game of the series after injuring her ankle in the first round against Indiana. In the last two games she played sparingly and didn't score a point.

After the injury, Marina Mabrey started in Harris' place and coach Stephanie White said she wasn't sure it was the right time to bring Harris back into the starting lineup. The Suns coaching staff spent all day Saturday discussing the decision but didn't make the official decision until around midnight.

“We knew we had to get her (Harris) more minutes,” White said. “It's not easy to be in this position after an injury and then come off the bench. It didn’t really give her the best chance of success.”

The switch worked, and Harris got her offense going early, scoring on a pull-up jumper with 7:29 left in the first quarter. She scored seven points in the first half and then helped the Sun close things out in the second half when things really heated up.

Harris hit two of her four 3-pointers in the fourth quarter to finish the game.

“My teammates give me confidence every day,” Harris said. “And my coaches take care of me. Whenever my number is called, I’m just ready to go out there and do what I need to do.”

Thomas also stepped up toward the end of the game, scoring eight points in the fourth quarter and assisting on both of Harris' 3-pointers. She was just two rebounds short of a triple-double, she had 18 points, 11 assists and eight rebounds.

“She steps up in big moments,” White said. “We put the ball in her hands a lot in the fourth quarter to orchestrate our offense and she made plays for herself and others. That’s what she does.”

The win means Connecticut's title hopes are still alive, but the Suns will have to close out the series on the road in Minnesota. A win there would lead to a place in the finals with the Liberty, who had already eliminated the Aces on Sunday.

The Sun knows it will only get harder from here, but once the season ends things will change. And as Bonner said, they're not quite ready to go their separate ways just yet.