Connecticut’s Tina Charles (31, left) and Aneesah Morrow (24) prevent Phoenix’s Alyssa Thomas from getting a clean shot at the basket in Saturday’s WNBA game in Uncasville.

UNCASVILLE, Sept. 6, 2025 – After eight consecutive trips to the WNBA playoffs dating back to 2017, there will no playoff action at the Mohegan Sun Arena this fall.

The Sun, who won just two of their first 18 games, will finish the year with a franchise record for defeats – currently at 31 with two games remaining.

But for a few hours, there was a playoff-type atmosphere in Uncasville. The Sun erased a seven-point deficit in the fourth quarter and snapped Phoenix’s six-game winning streak with an 87-84 victory that drew some of the loudest cheers of the season from a sellout crowd of 8,914 fans.

Rookie Leila Lacan, Connecticut’s top draft pick in the 2024 draft who joined the team at midseason, made a driving layup with 27.8 seconds remaining to give the Sun the lead for good and hit four free throws in the final 10 seconds to secure the contest.

The Mercury (27-15) came into the game having won eight of their last nine games as they prepare for the upcoming WNBA playoffs. Alyssa Thomas and Dewanna Bonner, who anchored the Sun for the past few years, were dressed in the visiting purple and orange colors of the Mercury and received warm welcomes.

But once the game began, the crowd was cheering for the Sun, who were coming off a 22-point loss to Chicago on Wednesday.

And they were ear-splitting cheers for a Sun team that is up for sale and rumored to be heading out of town. In recent weeks, published reports have shared news of a $325 million dollar offer from a minority owner of the Boston Celtics, Steve Pagliuca, on the table, a $325 million dollar offer from a former minority owner of the Milwaukee Bucks, Marc Lasry, and an proposal to purchase a minority stake in the team from the state of Connecticut.

What does the future hold? Great question.

On Saturday, it was just basketball on the hardwood of Mohegan Sun Arena. And pride.

“It shows we have pride. We have dignity,” said Sun veteran Tina Charles, who at the age of 36 and in her 14th WNBA season has led Connecticut (11-31) in scoring 20 times this season. “We’re just not going to roll over due to what our record is. We believe we are better than our record is.

“I am just proud of how we have grown,” she said. “You will have losses in the WNBA. It is how you go about it (after losing). Not lettering the record define us.”

Marina Mabrey had a game-high 23 points for the Sun while Charles scored 22 points and pulled down 10 rebounds. Lacan scored 14 points while Aneesah Morrow had nine points and a game-high 13 rebounds.

Connecticut rookie Leila Lacan scored six of her 14 points in the final 30 seconds to help the Sun beat Phoenix on Saturday.

Kahleah Copper scored 18 for Phoenix while Thomas had 14 points, eight rebounds and 10 assists, breaking the WNBA single-season record for assists set by Indiana’s Caitlyn Clark a year ago. Clark broke Thomas’ record that she had set in 2023 with the Sun. Thomas has 342 assists so far for Phoenix.

Phoenix led by seven with 7:54 remaining after Copper drove to the basket, sank the shot and hit an additional free throw for a 71-64 lead. But the Sun kept driving. Rivers hit a three-point shot, Aaliyah Edwards scoring in the lane and Charles scored four points, including a 10-foot jump as the Sun used a 10-2 run to take the lead with 4:46 remaining.

The game was tied at 81 with 1:11 after Sami Whitcomb hit a three-pointer for Phoenix and sank a foul shot for a flagrant foul against Connecticut.

With 27.8 seconds left, Lacan drove to the basket to give the Sun an 83-81 lead. Whitcomb missed a jumper with 14.2 seconds left and Lacan pulled down the rebound. Bonner fouled Lacan, who hit two free throws with 9.7 seconds left for a 85-81 lead.

Satou Sabally hit her first three-point shot of the game off an assist from Copper with 5.6 seconds left to cut the lead to one, 85-84. Lacan hit two more foul shots with 3.7 seconds left and Copper’s shot in the final seconds was off the rim.

“(She) was very effective sometimes,” Mabrey said of Lacan in the fourth quarter. “It is hard to come off the bench and come in and hit clutch free throws, get big rebounds, make deflections and get other players on the other team mad.

“I think that you were very effective,” Mabrey said smiling as she turned to Lacan in the post-game media session.

Connecticut had one of their best first quarters of the season, converting on 58 percent of their shots and scoring 26 points and leading by eight after 10 minutes. Mabrey had 11 points while Charles had 10.

Phoenix scored 32 points in the second quarter to take a three-point lead at the half, 50-47. Charles had 16 at halftime with Mabrey adding 14 points.

The Sun closed the third quarter on a 14-8 run to take a 64-63 lead into the fourth. Marina Mabrey tallied eight of her 23 points in the third quarter to lead Connecticut.

“I want to thankful for our fans for sticking with us all year long,” Charles said. “It’s been a rough season. We’ve been able to turn it around and pick it up. That’s why I wanted to come back to Connecticut. The faces have changed but the love has always been the same, so very thankful.”

With two games remaining, Charles is now just 18 points from tying DeWanna Bonner (697) for most points in a single season in franchise history. With the win, the Sun snapped a four-game losing streak.

Connecticut closes out the 2025 campaign with two games against Atlanta. The Sun play at Atlanta on Monday night and conclude the season against the Dream on Wednesday night at the Mohegan Sun Arena.

Connecticut 87, Phoenix 84
At Uncasville
Phoenix (84) Sabally 4-9 2-3 11, Thomas 6-15 2-5 14, Mack 3-6 1-2 7, Copper 5-14 6-7 18, Makani 3-6 0-0 7, Westbeld 1-3 0-0 3, Whitcomb 3-10 4-4 13, Bonner 3-7 0-0 9, Held 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 29-71 15-21 84
Connecticut (87) Mabrey 8-16 6-7 23, Morrow 2-6 5-8 9, Charles 8-15 6-8 22, Lacan 4-9 6-6 14, Allen 0-0 3-4 3, Edwards 2-5 0-1 4, Rivers 2-8 0-0 6, Toure 1-3 0-0 3, Peters 1-1 0-0 3. Totals 28-63 26-34 87
Phoenix (27-15)             18  32  13  21  — 84
Connecticut (11-31)      26  21  17  23  — 87
Three-point goals: Phoenix 11-32 (Sabally 1-3, Copper 2-9, Makani 1-3, Westbeld 1-3, Whitcomb 3-8, Bonner 3-6); Connecticut 5-16 (Mabrey 1-5, Morrow 0-3, Lacan 0-2, Rivers 2-4, Toure 1-1, Peters 1-1); Att. 8,910 (sellout)