{"id":674617,"date":"2026-05-16T11:47:31","date_gmt":"2026-05-16T11:47:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/674617\/"},"modified":"2026-05-16T11:47:31","modified_gmt":"2026-05-16T11:47:31","slug":"with-win-over-connecticut-aces-bid-adieu-to-cradle-of-womens-basketball","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/674617\/","title":{"rendered":"With win over Connecticut, Aces bid adieu to cradle of women\u2019s basketball"},"content":{"rendered":"

When people think of Connecticut<\/a>, they are bound to come up with an array of answers.<\/p>\n

History buffs can practically write dissertations about the state\u2019s importance to the birth of the United States 250 years ago. Foodies can rave about Connecticut\u2019s invention of the lobster roll. Even nature lovers can get in on the action with the views of the Long Island Sound beyond the coastline.<\/p>\n

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Sports fans can also get in on the action, with ESPN and WWE among the major sports conglomerates making their headquarters in the same little corner of New England.<\/p>\n

However, nothing epitomizes the Connecticut sports scene more than the game of basketball, particularly the Geno Auriemma-crafted juggernaut that is the women\u2019s basketball team at the University of Connecticut in Storrs.<\/p>\n

For over 40 years, Auriemma and the Huskies have revolutionized women\u2019s basketball, with their NCAA record 111 consecutive victories from 2014-17 reaching the point where national championship odds read Connecticut versus the field. Historic rivalries against Dawn Staley\u2019s South Carolina Gamecocks, the mid-1990s Tennessee Volunteers<\/a> coached by the late Pat Summitt, and former Big East rival Notre Dame Fighting Irish<\/a> catapulted women\u2019s basketball from a specific niche\u00a0to the national spotlight.<\/p>\n

The players that have come from the program read like a who\u2019s who amidst the pantheon of greatness in the sport, ranging from all-time greats such as Sue Bird, Diana Taurasi and Maya Moore to current stars such as Breanna Stewart<\/a> and Paige Bueckers<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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In 2003, the Mohegan Indian tribe brought professional women\u2019s basketball to the state when they purchased the Orlando Miracle and rebranded them into the Connecticut Sun. In their over 20 years in the Constitution State, the Sun<\/a> have made the postseason 15 out of 21 times, an impressive run despite\u00a0never winning a championship.<\/p>\n

However, when the Sun allowed their entire starting five to walk in 2025, the writing was on the wall. Sure enough, it was announced soon after that the Mohegan tribe looked to sell the team, with potential relocation being on the table. A sale to Boston Celtics minority owner Stephen Pagliuca in 2025 with plans to relocate the Sun to Beantown by 2027 fell through, but it felt like a matter of time until Connecticut was without a professional team again.<\/p>\n

On Dec. 19, 2025, the hourglass officially flipped when Houston Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta reached an agreement to purchase the Sun and restore the Houston Comets, who were the WNBA\u2019s inaugural champions in 1997 and served as the league\u2019s first true dynasty with four straight titles (1997-2000).<\/p>\n

Ironic how sports can work sometimes; the resurrection of one legend comes\u00a0at the expense of another.<\/p>\n

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It seems fitting, then, that a Las Vegas Aces team featuring many of UConn\u2019s greatest rivals was the first to bid a proper farewell to Connecticut from the WNBA.<\/p>\n

On Friday, the Aces completed the second of two consecutive games in their final excursion to Uncasville, sweeping the Sun with a 101-94 victory<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A\u2019ja Wilson put on a performance reminiscent of her days with South Carolina, putting up 45 points against the Sun. It made the four-time MVP the first player in WNBA history to reach the 40-point mark in five games.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis building has been special to me for a while,\u201d said Wilson during her postgame presser on Friday.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI got my first WNBA point in this building. We won our first championship in this building. And now, we\u2019re leaving here with something. But it has definitely been a lot of fun coming here. We make the most out of it. I think we get closer when we come to Mohegan, only because we just be together. It really brings us together. I\u2019m going to miss this place.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other players with connections to Connecticut basketball, either at the collegiate and professional level, would also elevate the Aces to a victory.<\/p>\n

Jackie Young<\/a>, who was part of the Fighting Irish team that shocked the college basketball world by eliminating UConn in the Final Four in 2018 alongside Brianna Turner<\/a>, was also able to make her mark, putting up 13 points, six rebounds and six assists. Chelsea Gray<\/a>, who was drafted 11th overall by the Sun in 2014, put together a double-double with 12 points and 10 assists, as well as seven rebounds.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was drafted here. There are a lot of memories here,\u201d said Gray. \u201cThey gave me the opportunity to play in this league. And then, obviously, our first championship in Las Vegas<\/a> was here in Connecticut.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The thoughts of the Aces\u2019 championship core echoes throughout the basketball world; the story of the game they love cannot be told without Connecticut.<\/p>\n

The gravity of the moment was not lost on Aces head coach Becky Hammon, who has had the unique opportunity to watch the game grow as both a player and a coach. Hammon, who has deep family ties with the state, has battled the Sun as a player with the New York Liberty<\/a>, as well as a coach when the Aces defeated Connecticut in the 2022 WNBA Finals to win their first of three championships in four years. Prior to Wednesday\u2019s game, the head coach\u00a0could not help but lament about the \u201cbittersweet\u201d feeling that she got from heading to New England for the final time, and she reiterated that point on Friday as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have a lot of memories in this building. This team has been here since 2003, it has become a staple in the W,\u201d said Hammon.<\/p>\n

\u201cHowever, going back to Houston, I think is super exciting. I know there is a fanbase there ready to explode and accept this team, and is excited about the future. So, as much as life changes and things move on, and it\u2019s time to close a certain chapter, I think there are bigger and better things in store when this team does get to move to Houston. Get down there and embrace a fanbase that really hasn\u2019t had a team for years and years.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Hammon also added how unfortunate it was that Houston had to wait since 2008 to get a WNBA team back, denying the Comets a chance to defend their status as the quintessential franchise in the league.<\/p>\n

\u201cNobody has really matched that since, how when they first came out and won those first four championships. They had a jump on the league. They had a big 3 and a big 4 before anybody else even had a big 2. So, I\u2019m excited for the franchise, and I think it\u2019s a good move,\u201d added Hammon.<\/p>\n

In the Aces\u2019 sendoff to the Sun, the defending champions took everything they could handle and managed to come away with a hard-fought victory.<\/p>\n

Connecticut would have had it no other way.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When people think of Connecticut, they are bound to come up with an array of answers. History buffs…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":674618,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[574],"tags":[325345,64,63,726,1664,12271,103934,108693,2276,15611,90849,108692,2623,34826,325344,10728,4017,1227,85,133,1221,2278],"class_list":["post-674617","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-basketball","tag-a39ja-wilson","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-basketball","tag-boston-celtics","tag-breanna-stewart","tag-brianna-turner","tag-chelsea-gray","tag-connecticut","tag-connecticut-sun","tag-fighting-irish","tag-jackie-young","tag-las-vegas","tag-las-vegas-aces","tag-mohegan-sun-arena","tag-new-york-liberty","tag-paige-bueckers","tag-south-carolina-gamecocks","tag-sports","tag-sun","tag-tennessee-volunteers","tag-university-of-connecticut"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/674617","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=674617"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/674617\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/674618"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=674617"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=674617"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=674617"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}