Stewart helps Liberty beat Sun 89-81 in Jonquel Jones' return to Connecticut

Jun 28, 2023, 06:04 am

UNCASVILLE, Conn. -- — Breanna Stewart scored 24 points and Jonquel Jones added 14 points and 11 rebounds in her return to Connecticut as the New York Liberty beat the Sun 89-81 on Tuesday night.

The victory moved the Liberty into a tie with Connecticut atop the Commissioner Cup standings in the Eastern Conference. Each team has one game left although New York has the tiebreaker having swept the two games against the Sun.

Las Vegas has nearly wrapped up the Western Conference slot, sitting at 6-0.

Alyssa Thomas led Connecticut (12-4) with 11 points, 10 assists and 10 rebounds for her fifth career triple-double. She’s now done it in consecutive games and three times in the last seven days. Thomas is the all-time record holder in the category. DiJonai Carrington scored a career-high 23 points to lead Connecticut.

New York (10-3) was up 80-68 with 6:26 left before Connecticut (12-4) scored 13 straight, the last of which came on a contested layup by Thomas with 3:39 left that was her 11th point and gave her the triple-double. It also gave the Sun their first lead since the first half.

That was the final point the team would score as New York closed with nine straight points. Courtney Vandersloot hit two free throws and then Betnijah Laney added a 3-pointer that made it 85-81.

Kayla Thornton followed with a runner in the lane with 40.4 seconds remaining. The Sun missed eight consecutive shots over the final 3 1/2 minutes.

Carrington gave the Sun a chance to even be in the game, scoring 17 of her points in the second half.

The game served as a homecoming for Jones, who played six season in Connecticut before getting traded to New York in the offseason. Jones won the WNBA MVP in 2021 and helped the Sun reach the finals twice, including last year.

The Sun played a tribute video to Jones a few minutes before tipoff and she got a warm ovation from the crowd.

Jones got the first basket for New York in a fast-paced first quarter that saw Connecticut lead 29-28 at the end of it. The back-and-forth action continued in the second quarter where neither team could get much of an edge. New York scored the final eight points of the half to go up 47-43 at the break.