Rookie star Leila Lacan scored the go-ahead basket with 27.8 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter, lifting the Connecticut Sun to an 87-84 win over the Phoenix Mercury on Saturday afternoon in Uncasville, Conn.
Lacan’s basket gave the Sun (11-31) an 83-81 lead. She made four free throws down the stretch to cap her 14-point performance.
Kahleah Copper had 18 points but misfired on a 3-pointer as time expired for the Mercury (27-15), who saw their six-game win streak end.
Marina Mabrey scored 23 points and Tina Charles added 22 and 10 rebounds to pace the Sun. Aneesah Morrow collected 13 rebounds.
Alyssa Thomas collected 14 points, 10 assists and eight rebounds. She reclaimed the WNBA record for most assists in a season with 342, surpassing Caitlin Clark’s total of 337 last season.
Sami Whitcomb added 13 points off the bench for Phoenix.
With the game tied at 81-81, Thomas missed two free throws with 44.4 seconds left.
Instead, the Sun got the clutch layup from Lacan.
The Sun led 64-63 at the end of three quarters. But the Mercury opened the fourth on an 8-0 run, leading 71-64 after Copper scored inside and hit a free throw with 7:54 left.
Connecticut fought back and got within 73-72 after Charles’ bucket with 5:29 to play. Charles hit two free throws less than a minute later.
Morrow scored off a second-chance opportunity with 3:49 to go to extend the lead to 76-73.
Connecticut led just 80-78 with under two minutes to play before Whitcomb drilled a 3-pointer in the corner to put Phoenix back on top.
An energize start for the Sun was fueled by Charles, who scored six of the team’s first eight points to stake them to an 8-2 lead with 7:40 left.
Charles made her first four shots in an opening quarter that ended with Saniya Rivers connecting on a 3-pointer at the buzzer for 26-18 lead.
Back-to-back 3-pointers from Monique Akoa Makani and Copper closed the gap to 26-24 with 8:57 to play in the half.
–Field Level Media
