Tina Charles shines as Connecticut Sun edge Washington Mystics 94-86: WNBA Recap
On Sunday night Tina Charles netted 30 points and helped Connecticut Sun beat the Washington Mystics 94-86 here at Mohegan Sun Arena.
Charles had a 20 point night against the defending champions Minnesota Lynx in the last game on first June, but she couldn’t help her team much that night. However things were quite the opposite on Sunday as Sun grabbed an 8 points victory.
Tina reflected on the last match and said that she knows that her team relies upon her.
``I definitely wasn't happy with that,'' Charles said. ``I know my role on this team. I know my team looks to me offensively and defensively, so I'm just going out there and playing hard.''
She played big time against Mystics, and besides her 30 points also had 9 rebounds. Kara Lawson collected 18 points and dished out 4 assists while Forward Asjha Jones chipped in with 10 points and 4 rebounds in Sun’s 4th victory of this season.
On the other hand Washington rolled down to a 3 game losing streak. Crystal Langhorne netted a team high 25 points. She vowed to keep fighting despite the recent string of losses;
“We have a lot of fighters on our team and we're going to keep on fighting,'' Langhorne said.
Jasmine Thomas scored 17 points coming off the bench and guard Noelle Quinn recorded 10 points.
The opening frame remained close and with 6:09 in hand the game was tied at 8 each. Sun created some-breathing space with the help of a 6-nothing run, but after some seesaw action Mystics managed to reduce the gap to 17-13. Connecticut however finished the frame on a 6-2 run to finish with a 23-15 lead.
Midway into the second stanza, Connecticut was holding on to a 29-22 advantage when Washington replied with a huge 13-5 spurt and grabbed a 35-34 lead to end the first half.
Sun made a prompt recovery in the second half, opening it with a 23-8 run to take a 57-43 lead. Mystics responded with a 7-2 run to close the frame at 59-50.
In the last 10 minutes of the game, Sun rewrote the franchise history with a 19-for-21 effort from the free throw line. Lawson had 14 points in that quarter.
`We knew when we got a double-digit lead in the third quarter that we'd have to execute and play well in the fourth,'' Lawson said after the game. ``They made a good run at us and made some threes down the stretch, but we made our free throws.''
Mystics displayed a resilient show in the decisive frame and with 2:02 on the clock they narrowed down the gap to 78-75. However, Sun scored the next 14 of their 16 points from the foul line and eased to a 94-86 win.
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