Sun have a full-circle moment, facing Indiana, Clark in the first round of the playoffs

Sep. 21—MOHEGAN — The Connecticut Sun faced the Indiana Fever in Game 1 of the regular season on May 14, a 92-71 Sun victory at Mohegan Sun Arena, with Connecticut’s DiJonai Carrington playing lock-down defense as the Fever ushered in the Caitlin Clark era.

The Sun then played the Fever in Game 3, six days later in Indiana, winning by a slimmer margin, 88-84.

“I remember sitting up here after Game 1 or Game 3 when we played them and I’m like, ‘They’re gonna be just fine,'” White said this week. “They just have to grow. They’re young and they’ve got to figure it out and they’ve gotta learn to play together and they have.

“They’re playing incredibly well.”

The third-seeded Sun (28-12 in the regular season) now face the No. 6 Fever (20-20) in the opening round of the WNBA playoffs, with the first game of a best-of-three series scheduled for 3 p.m. Sunday at Mohegan (Ch. 8).

Game 2 is at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at Mohegan with Game 3 if necessary on Friday in Indianapolis.

The Sun, making their WNBA-leading eighth straight playoff appearance, reached the semifinals last year before falling to the New York Liberty, while the Fever haven’t reached the playoffs since 2016, with the legendary Tamika Catchings in the final year of her career and none other than White as the head coach.

Indiana began the season with a flurry of games, 11 in 20 days, while starting off 1-8. The Fever were 11-15 at the Olympic break and went 7-1 in their first eight games thereafter.

Clark, the Iowa great who was the No. 1 overall pick in this year’s WNBA Draft, has lived up to the hype, averaging 19.2 points, 5.7 rebounds and 8.4 assists and landing on a number of the league’s Most Valuable Player ballots while establishing the league’s rookie scoring record.

Indiana’s Kelsey Mitchell averages 19.2 points per game, as well, and South Carolina grad Aliyah Boston, the No. 1 pick in 2023, is averaging 14.0 points and 8.9 rebounds to go with 3.2 assists and 1.2 blocks. Red-hot Indiana is scoring 85.0 points per game.

“I mean, I think it’s pressure just in general because it’s the playoffs,” Sun point guard Ty Harris said of facing the Fever. “These games are crucial. It’s a three-game series and we need to win, honestly, but it’s exciting to see that we play them and we played them our first game, too, so it’s gonna be full circle.”

“Their pace,” said Connecticut All-Star DeWanna Bonner, asked the difference in Indiana since the start of the season. “I don’t know. They play really, really fast. They run the court very, very well. They’re a totally different team. They’re jelling now. They know where everybody’s going to be and where to expect the ball. Yeah, that pace is incredible.”

The Sun is coming off Thursday’s 87-54 victory over the Chicago Sky, which clinched them the No. 3 seed. Connecticut outscored a short-handed Chicago team 23-6 in the third quarter to tie the lowest scoring output by an opponent in any quarter this season.

Harris finished with 15 points, four assists and a block to lead the Sun in scoring. With seven assists, All-Star/Olympian Alyssa Thomas finished the regular season with 317 to set the franchise’s single-season mark.

White jokingly scolded reporters following the game for not allowing her to enjoy the victory over Chicago before shifting the focus to Indiana.

Asked to reflect on the season, White said it was a game at Washington on June 27, a 94-91 victory in overtime, that showed her something about the Sun’s mettle. They trailed the Mystics 32-21 after the first quarter.

Bonner had 24 points and 10 rebounds, Carrington scored 10 of her 22 points in overtime and Veronica Burton provided a spark from the bench with nine points, five assists and two steals.

“That’s the game V came in and really changed the momentum of the game and I think, at that point, building confidence in our bench and building confidence in our depth, finding ways to win and come back from a tough deficit at that point,” White said. “To me that was a big growth area for us.

“Staying together through that adversity. I think we’ve had lots of moments. That game just always stands out in my mind. … There’s a connectedness about this team that even was different from a year ago. I think there’s a continuous growth level in trust of one another.”

v.fulkerson@theday.com