The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

Bahamian basketball star Jonquel Jones and her Connecticut Sun overcame a sluggish start to the fourth quarter and notched their first win of the 2016 WNBA season.

Yesterday, Jones finished with five points, two steals and two blocks in just over seven minutes of the Sun’s 72-68 win over the San Antonio Stars at the AT&T Centre in San Antonio, Texas.

After leading for much of the contest, Connecticut struggled early in the fourth when they scored just two points in nearly five minutes to begin the final period.

The Stars took advantage of the Sun miscues and tied the game at 59 when Dearica Hamby split a pair at the line to tie the game at 59 with 6:28 left to play. The Sun responded with a 6-0 run to go ahead for good and improved to 1-1 on the season.

The Stars would pull within two when Kayla McBride made a three pointer with less than a minute remaining to make the score 69-67. She would miss the go-ahead three on the ensuing possession and the Sun would seal with win with free throws.

Camile Little came off the bench to lead the Sun with 13 points while Jasmine Thomas, Kelsey Bone and Alyssa Thomas each finished with 12.

Jones turned defence to offence quickly in the first quarter which resulted in her first score of the game. She deflected an entry pass into the post intended for Hamby and raced ahead of the field to finish with a fastbreak layup and give the Sun an early 18-11 lead. They led 25-17 at the end of the first and took a 39-36 lead into the half.

Jones reached the scorebook again late in the third quarter when she slipped a screen and scored on a layup to give the Sun a 56-51 lead headed into the fourth.

Hamby had 16 points and nine rebounds for San Antonio (0-2). McBride was just 5-of-18 shooting from the field and scored 13 points.

Jones is averaging five points, six rebounds, three assists and one steal per game and is the team’s leading shot blocker at two blocks per game in her young WNBA career.

In last week’s debut, Jones finished with six points, five rebounds, three assists and two blocks in the Sun’s 93-70 loss to the Chicago Sky at Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Illinois.

The Sun are scheduled to play their first home game of the season on Saturday, May 21, against the Washington Mystics.

During the preseason, Jones averaged 11.3 points, seven rebounds and 2.3 steals in 21.7 minutes per game as they finished with an impressive 3-0 win-loss record. One of those preseason matchups included a 76-53 win over the Stars where Jones finished with a double double - 10 points and 12 rebounds.

Selected sixth overall by the Los Angeles Sparks, Jones was immediately traded to the Sun in exchange for Chelsea Gray and the Sun’s first round pick in 2017.

After a dismal season where they finished 15-19 and failed to qualify for the playoffs for the third consecutive year, the Sun added three of the top six picks in last month’s WNBA Draft - Jones, Morgan Tuck and Banham. They entered the season ranked No.10 in the Associated Press WNBA power rankings.