UNCASVILLE, Conn. — The Connecticut Sun honored their two Olympians, Asjha Jones and Tina Charles, after Wednesday night’s final home game before the London Games.
Jones and Charles held up their end of the bargain against the Washington Mystics. The Sun’s post combination led their team to their fourth-straight win an 85-73 victory.
Jones had 22 points and nine rebounds while Charles added 17 points and seven rebounds.
Kara Lawson had 19 points, four assists and a game-high three steals for Connecticut (14-4).
Crystal Langhorne had 19 points and six rebounds for Washington (3-14) and Michelle Snow added 12 points and seven rebounds.
Jones scored her team’s first six points and shot 10-of-21 from the floor.
“I was feeling pretty good in warm-ups,” Jones said. “One of the first couple of plays we ran was for me to get the ball inside. I made the first shot, and then just kept trying to be aggressive from there.”
Jones missed eight of 12 shots in Tuesday’s 77-70 win at Washington.
“At our place, I thought we did a pretty good job on her,” Mystics coach Trudi Lacey said. “(Tonight showed) why she’s an Olympian. She really elevated her game and is tough to stop.”
Charles made seven of her 14 field goals.
“With the two of them, it makes it really tough,” Lacey said. “We went to try to slow Charles down and Asjha gets going. We try to slow Asjha down and Charles gets going. I really think that was the difference in the game.”
The Sun close the first-half of the season at the Chicago Sky on Friday.
The Mystics play at the New York Liberty that same day.
Washington trailed by 14 points early in the second half when Monique Currie got her team going. She scored five straight points to start a run, and Natalie Novosel ended it with a 3-pointer to cut the Mystics deficit to 53-49 with less than four minutes remaining in the third quarter.
Tan White came off the bench and instantly gave the Sun a spark with a 3-pointer. She added a layup to push Connecticut ahead, 62-49, with less than a minute left in the quarter.
Washington played from behind for most of the first half, but made a late 8-2 run. Snow had back-to-back baskets to start the run.
Two free throws by Novosel cut Connecticut’s lead to 36-33 with more than a minute left.
The Sun scored the final baskets of the half. Jones’ offensive rebound led to a Lawson bank shot, and Jones added a put-back to give the Sun a 40-33 halftime advantage.
Jones made an open jumper from almost the top of the key to give the Sun a 30-19 lead a minute into the second quarter, their biggest lead of that half.
Connecticut used a 10-0 first quarter run to pull ahead early in the first quarter. Charles had two baskets during that stretch, and Lawson finished it with a steal and an open layup in transition to give the Sun an 18-8 lead with over five minutes left.
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