DeWanna Bonner hits career-high 7 3s, scores 23 as Sun beat Dream 80-67
UNCASVILLE, Conn. (AP) — DeWanna Bonner scored 23 points, hitting a career-high seven 3-pointers, to help the Connecticut Sun beat the Atlanta Dream 80-67 Sunday for their third win in a row.
Tiffany Mitchell added 13 points and Brionna Jones scored 11 points for Connecticut. Alyssa Thomas added seven points, nine assists and seven rebounds.
Mitchell and Bonner each hit a 3-point in a 9-0 run that made it 17-11 with 2:20 left in the first quarter and the Sun led the rest of the way.
Allisha Gray hit a mid-range pull-up jumper that cut Atlanta’s deficit to 24-20 midway through the second quarter but Veronica Burton answered with a 3-pointer and Jones made a layup before Bonner hit again from behind the arc to give Connecticut a 12-point lead. The Sun led 34-24 at the half.
The Dream made 4 of 11 from the field and committed five turnovers while scoring just eight points in the second quarter before Connecticut scored 33 points — one fewer than its first-half total — on 9-of-11 shooting in the third quarter to open an 18-point lead going into the fourth.
Atlanta (7-13), which beat the Sun 78-74 on June 28 to end a three-game skid, has lost four games in a row and seven of its last eight.
Connecticut (17-4) has won four of its last five games and is tied with the New York Liberty for the best record in the WNBA.
New York, which beat the Sun 82-75 on June 8 to end Connecticut’s nine-game win streak to open the season, visits Wednesday.
Gray led Atlanta with 19 points on 7-of-11 shooting. Tina Charles added 13 points and Nia Coffey 11.
Rhyne Howard (ankle) — who is second on the Dream in scoring (15.4 per game) this season and leads the team in assists (3.4), steals (2.2) and blocks (0.8) — Cheyenne Parker-Tyus (foot), Aerial Powers (calf) and Jordin Canada (finger) did not play for Atlanta.
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