The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Tribune Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

Jonquel Jones and her Connecticut Sun have been one of the surprise success stories thus far in the WNBA but for the team to break a historic playoff drought they face a strong schedule to close out the regular season.

The Sun are currently third in the league with a 15-9 record and are in a midst of a seven-game stretch that features the Sun against teams currently in the five-through-nine slots in the WNBA standings.

The Sun began the stretch with a 93-92 win over the fifth ranked Phoenix Mercury, Friday at the Mohegan Sun Arena.

Jones posted another double double with 19 points and 15 rebounds. At halftime she had 11 points and 11 rebounds to secure her fourth straight double-double and 14th of the season.

It was the third straight win for the Sun following the All-Star break.

Jones leads the WNBA in rebounding and 11.4 per game, with 15.7 points and is seventh in the league at field goal percentage 53 percent.

“It means a lot but I try to stay level-headed,” Jones said. “I just want to continue to grow. It is not one thing but continue to get better in everything that I do.”

Connecticut coach Curt Miller told the Norwich Bulletin the team has to maintain its composure down the stretch to solidify playoff positioning.

“We have to stay focused during each game on what has led to success for us, what’s important to us; our core beliefs, our core philosophy, both offensively and defensively,” he said, “We haven’t put out a number that we have to reach to get into the playoffs, but we have addressed the next seven games. We’re all fighting for playoff berths and there will be one team that is the odd one out. This is a really important stretch for us.”

Despite a late surge following a slow start last season, the Sun were eliminated from the postseason with three games left to play. The Sun posted an 8-4 record from July to early September and was tied for the second best mark in the WNBA during that timespan. Despite being sixth in the Eastern Conference, with the league’s new playoff rules, they remained with a shot at the eight spot.

The top eight teams in the entire league, irrespective of division, qualify for the playoffs and are seeded one to eight.

The new format will re-seed after each round and includes byes for the top-ranked teams.

The Sun have not reached the WNBA postseason since 2012.