The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Tribune Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

JONQUEL Jones’ hot start to the 2021 WNBA season has prompted league-wide recognition.

The Sun All-Star forward was named the Kia WNBA Eastern Conference Player of the Month, the league announced yesterday.

Through eight games, Jones averaged 20.3 points, 10.5 rebounds and 3.3 assists per game in leading the Sun to a conference leading 6-2 record.

Jones’ offseason teammate with UMMC Ekaterinburg in the Russian Premier League, Breanna Stewart of the Seattle Storm, averaged 22.5 points, 10.3 rebounds and two blocks per game to earn Western Conference Player of the Month honours.

The Sun got back into the win column Tuesday night with a 74-67 win over the Las Vegas Aces at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut.

Jones began the month of June with 23 points and seven rebounds in the win.

Connecticut improved to 7-2 after they lost two of their last three games — both in overtime — following a 5-0 start. Las Vegas dropped to 5-2 after their three-game winning streak ended.

Jones said the Sun did a better job of closing out the Aces Tuesday night thanks to better execution down the stretch and an energetic home crowd.

“Just learning from what happened. Our energy was low. Not to make excuses, but people are tired. We had a serious stretch of games -- people had to dig deep. We didn’t do it in Minnesota and we learned from it,” she said to reporters following the game. “In close games, it makes a big difference to have the crowd behind you cheering. Without full capacity, it’s not what we’re used to, but the people that are here are loud and yelling at the refs when they make bad calls.”

The win secured a season clinching advantage over the Aces.

Sun head coach and general manager Curt Miller said Jones has played some of her most efficient basketball early in the season.

“She just continues to be so efficient. She lets it come to her. They threw a lot of coverages at her, they threw a lot of traffic at her. She made her threes. What she did best tonight is she got to the foul line,” he said.

“Big, big home win for us and a season series win for us against Vegas... we had better clock management, we learned from [the Minnesota] game. You saw two teams that have played a lot of games. That was our ninth game in the 19th day of the season. We’ll finally have a day off at home tomorrow. There was a tempo about us that wasn’t fast, but... we could be successful at.”

Miller was back on the Sun bench following his one game suspension from the league for his comments toward Aces centre Liz Cambage during the team’s first matchup this season on May 24. “We just apologised to each other. She summed it up best. We’re in this together,” Miller said.

“We’re a league that really supports each other, fights together...we all really care for each other as much as we are competitive.”

Connecticut continues its three-game home stand tonight when they host the New York Liberty at the Mohegan Sun Arena.