The Connecticut Sun need something good to happen — and that might be difficult to achieve Friday night in Minneapolis.
After all, the slumping Sun will be visiting the Minnesota Lynx (3-0), the first WNBA team to reach the three-win mark this season.
“I know we’re just taking it as it comes,” Minnesota coach Cheryl Reeve said. “I think we’ve got options. I think that’s what we’re excited about. We’ve got a lot of players who we want to see the court and we’ve got to figure out the best ways to use them.”
Minnesota won 85-81 against visiting Dallas on Wednesday night with Napheesa Collier racking up 28 points. It marked the closest of the three games for the Lynx, who won their other two outings by double-digit margins.
“It was a little bit too close for us, but I hope everybody else had fun,” Collier said. “Just beginning.”
Collier has reached the 20-point mark in all three games this season.
Connecticut (0-2) will play in its first road game after losses to Washington and Las Vegas, the latter an 87-62 blowout on Tuesday.
Saniya Rivers, a rookie guard out of North Carolina State, made her debut in the Las Vegas game after missing the opener because of her mother’s death. She scored 11 points in 25 minutes off the bench.
“I know that we’ll figure this out because of the love that they displayed to me,” Rivers said of her teammates and coaches. “And love overlooks everything.”
Even with the defeats, there have been more pressing matters away from the court for the Sun. Rivers said she’s with the right group as she embarks on her professional career.
“Losing my mom has been the toughest thing I’ve ever faced in my life, and I’m playing for her,” Rivers said. She added: “You’ll never meet another staff as compassionate, as understanding, as caring as them, as supporting as them.”
Meanwhile, the Lynx have received a boost from Natisha Hiedeman, who had 10 points in 27 minutes off the bench vs. Las Vegas.
“It’s the best that she’s played (and) she really had a great training camp,” Reeve said. “The first two games weren’t really representative of what her training camp looked like, and (Wednesday) did.”
–Field Level Media
