![\"Ashlon](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/GettyImages-2291076687.jpg\")
Ashlon Jackson, left, Brittney Griner, center, and Saniya Rivers of the Connecticut Sun celebrate after a game against the Los Angeles Sparks at the TD Garden on Aug. 18, 2026 in Boston. (Photo by Brian Fluharty\/Getty Images)<\/p>\nThe Connecticut Sun bid farewell to the Hub on Tuesday night, going out in style with a 85-77 victory over the Los Angeles Sparks at a festive and raucous TD Garden.<\/p>\n
Former UConn center Olivia Nelson-Ododa had a double-double, leading the way with 18 points and 11 rebounds for the Sun, who are playing their 24th and final \u201csunset\u201d season in the WNBA before they relocate to Houston in 2027.<\/p>\n
Connecticut is already eliminated from playoff contention and remains second-to-last in the WNBA standings at 9-25, but Tuesday\u2019s win will go down as a season highlight and an admirable last salvo to Boston, which the Sun have visited annually since 2024.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m just glad that we could leave on such a high note,\u201d Nelson-Ododa said. \u201cBoston\u2019s just shown us nothing but love for the past three seasons, you know, playing here. So I\u2019m just really proud of my team tonight, and happy that we could get the dub.\u201d<\/p>\n
Under different circumstances, Tuesday\u2019s victory over Los Angeles would have been a potential preview of more to come. Earlier this year, the WNBA torpedoed former Celtics minority owner Steve Pagliuca\u2019s interest in purchasing the Sun from the Mohegan Tribe and bringing a WNBA franchise to Boston.<\/p>\n
Tilman Fertitta, owner of the NBA\u2019s Rockets, got the league\u2019s nod to acquire the Sun for $300 million instead after overseeing an unsuccessful WNBA expansion bid in 2005. That said, Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey, a former point guard and captain for the Harvard Crimson women\u2019s basketball team, isn\u2019t giving up on bringing the WNBA to the state and is hopeful Boston will have the chance to formally bid for an expansion team in the not-too-distant future \u2013 potentially in the early 2030s.<\/p>\n
At least Tuesday provided Boston fans with a memorable parting gift.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s definitely bittersweet,\u201d Nelson-Ododa said. \u201cWe have our own sunset season happening right now, but also, kind of saying farewell to here and just the support that we have here is, like I said, it\u2019s bittersweet. And I just keep going back to the fan base. I mean, it\u2019s amazing to just see such a great turnout every single year for one game, and so I think it just speaks volumes to the direction of where women\u2019s sports is going.\u201d<\/p>\n
Connecticut never trailed and looked in control from the start, as Los Angeles fell to 12-23 and had its losing streak extended to five.<\/p>\n
Nelson-Ododa won the opening tip-off, and Leila Lacan scored the game\u2019s first field goal. From there, the Sun never looked back, jumping out to an 11-4 run and outrebounding the Sparks, 9-2, in the first quarter. Los Angeles out-scored Connecticut 20-19 in the second quarter, and briefly improved their rebounding in the paint, but went 1-for-10 from three and shot 40% from the field in the first half.<\/p>\n
Connecticut scored 10 unanswered points after halftime, cruising to a 22-9 run and jumping out to a 19-point lead. The Sun\u2019s largest lead came midway through the fourth quarter when they stretched their advantage to 21.<\/p>\n
Connecticut had four players hit double figures: Nelson-Ododa, Kennedy Burke (17), Diamond Miller (13), and Saniya Rivers (11). Lacan led the game with 10 assists. Charlisse Leger-Walker recorded eight rebounds, the second-most behind Nelson-Ododa.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo be effective, we need like to share the ball and to share the load, to share the scoring,\u201d Sun coach Rachid Meziane said. \u201cSo we want to move the ball around and share all the responsibilities.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sun star Brittney Griner (knee) did not play but got a loud cheer from the crowd when she sang along to \u201cSweet Caroline\u201d during a fourth-quarter timeout.<\/p>\n
Ashlon Jackson, left, Brittney Griner, center, and Saniya Rivers of the Connecticut Sun celebrate after a game against the Los Angeles Sparks at the TD Garden on Aug. 18, 2026 in Boston. (Photo by Brian Fluharty\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
For now, that\u2019s almost a wrap on professional women\u2019s basketball in New England. The Sun have just 10 regular-season games left, four of which will be played at Mohegan Sun Arena in Connecticut \u2014 their last game is slated for Sept. 24 against the Toronto Tempo.<\/p>\n
The seeds for a future expansion bid do seem to be in place. Pagliuca may double down on trying to bring the WNBA to Boston after having his bid to outright purchase the Celtics rejected last year, and more recently having his interest in the Sun quashed.<\/p>\n
A potential WNBA team would share the TD Garden with the Celtics, the most successful team in NBA history. Fans have loudly and proudly welcomed the Sun on each of their three visits to the arena, and Massachusetts is a basketball hotbed, not to mention home to the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield.<\/p>\n
Women\u2019s sports have never been more prominent in the city, which now has six recognized professional teams. One is the Boston Legacy \u2014 the entry into the National Women\u2019s Soccer League \u2013 which took a cohort of players to meet the Sun and watch Tuesday\u2019s game courtside.<\/p>\n
Maybe the best bit of foreshadowing came before tip-off on Tuesday, when the Sun showed a highlight reel played to the cadence of Dropkick Murphy\u2019s \u201cShipping Up to Boston.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nice foreshadowing indeed, if the stars align for the WNBA to return to Boston \u2013 permanently.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Connecticut Sun bid farewell to the Hub on Tuesday night, going out in style with a 85-77…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":410393,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[150,152,151,32891,56,32890,14422],"class_list":["post-410392","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arlington","tag-arlington","tag-arlington-headlines","tag-arlington-news","tag-connecticut-sun","tag-houston","tag-los-angeles-sparks","tag-wnba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/410392","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=410392"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/410392\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/410393"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=410392"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=410392"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=410392"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}