Alyssa Thomas sets franchise record with 16 assists as Sun defeat Lynx
Connecticut forward finishes 2 assists shy of Courtney Vandersloot's WNBA record
Natisha Hiedeman scored 19 points, Alyssa Thomas had 16 points, nine rebounds and a franchise-high 16 assists and the visiting Connecticut Sun beat the Minnesota Lynx 89-84 on Thursday night.
Thomas passed Lindsay Whalen's single-game mark of 13 for the team record before finishing two shy of Courtney Vandersloot's WNBA record of 18. Thomas had seven assists in the first quarter and she reached 10 with 3:24 left before halftime to set a franchise record for the most assists in a half, passing Renee Montgomery's nine in 2010.
ONE OF ONE 😤<a href="https://twitter.com/athomas_25?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@athomas_25</a> was playing like no other, LITERALLY, as she becomes the only player in <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/WNBA?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#WNBA</a> history to put up 16+ points, 9+ rebounds, and 16+ assists in a game <a href="https://t.co/1tmmYhjTty">pic.twitter.com/1tmmYhjTty</a>
—@WNBAConnecticut scored the opening 12 points of the second half for a 59-47 lead as Minnesota missed its first nine field-goal attempts before Canadian Bridget Carleton's three-pointer with 4:25 left in the third.
The Lynx started the fourth with consecutive turnovers as the Sun extended it to 74-59. But Napheesa Collier scored 10 straight Minnesota points to pull within 77-74 and Kayla McBride tied it on a three-point play with 4:02 left.
DeWanna Bonner added 13 points for Connecticut (5-1). Brionna Jones, who picked up her third foul with nine minutes left in the second quarter, finished with 12 points.
Collier scored a career-high 30 points for Minnesota (0-6), which has lost its first six games for the first time since 2007. McBride added 12 points and Jessica Shepard had 11 points and 12 rebounds. Rookie Diamond Miller did not play due to an ankle injury.
Carleton collected three points and two rebounds for the Lynx in 11 minutes of play.
