Sun Notch Their First Win After 16-0 Fever Run
Despite the 16-0 Indiana Run, the Connecticut Sun notch their first win of the season.
After an 0-5 start to the 2025 campaign, the Connecticut Sun recorded their first win of the season on Friday night in Indiana.
The Fever went on a 16-0 run in the 4th quarter to take the lead with three minutes remaining, a lead that Connecticut had held since early in the second quarter. This story is all too familiar for the Sun; the Minnesota Lynx went on an 18-0 run to sink the Sun in their third game of the season. The Sun had big leads and tremendous momentum in both games before suddenly collapsing in the 4th quarter. Although it was a similar story, the Sun didn’t fall to the same fate.
Connecticut fought back; Saniya Rivers hit two free throws to reclaim the lead before Bria Hartley and the aforementioned Rivers hit back-to-back three pointers to build some breathing room for Connecticut. On the final play of the game Kelsey Mitchell came off an Aliyah Boston screen at the elbow. Tina Charles switched onto Mitchell, who caught the ball in the corner but couldn’t get up a quality shot after nearly losing the ball. The Sun bench was jubilant after the final buzzer, a win that’s much needed in an otherwise miserable start to the season. This was not only the Sun’s first win of the season, but the first career WNBA win for head coach Rachid Meziane.
The Sun should be relieved to get the first win out of the way, but another blown lead doesn’t look great. I don’t see this as a huge sign of growth from the Sun since their collapse against the Lynx - they still blew a double digit lead to a team that was depleted by injuries with no Clark, Colson, or Cunningham - but the win should help the team’s confidence in closing games moving forward.
Marina Mabrey had a great shooting night scoring 26 points on 10/17 from the field. Mabrey never lacks confidence on the floor, and is a streaky shooter once she sees a shot fall. She’s a player that you can win by if she’s hot and lose by if she’s not.
Saniya Rivers continues to play well; she had 12 points and hit 3 three pointers, her season high for threes in a game this season. Outside of her three point shooting, the biggest area of growth from Rivers is her decision making. She’s always been a great passer, but against the Fever she seemed to be making the right decisions in terms of moving the ball in the flow of the offense. She led the team in assists with 6 on the night and didn’t turn the ball over. She also had a team high +/- with 14.
The Sun play the defending champion New York Liberty at the Barclays Center on Sunday, a matchup that will be quite the challenge for the Sun. The Liberty have been the most dominant team in the WNBA so far this season, leading the league in points per game, field goal percentage, assists per game, and more. The addition of Natasha Cloud seems to have only made New York a more formidable favorite to repeat as WNBA Champions. The Sun hope to ride this momentum and shock the Liberty on their home court.