UNCASVILLE, Conn. — The Connecticut Sun trounced the Indiana Fever 89-72 on Monday, at one point leading by as many as 28 points and ultimately leaving Fever coach Christie Sides upset with her team’s effort.
“I’m going to start with how you can’t, at this level, coach effort,” Sides said to begin her postgame news conference at Mohegan Sun Arena. “I felt like we were just trying to ask them to keep playing hard, play hard. You can’t start there. You can’t play in this league if you have to coach effort. It’s just too hard.”
Connecticut, which raced ahead 26-15 after the first quarter and was up 55-35 by the end of the first half, had defeated Indiana by just four points in their previous meeting last month in Indianapolis. But Monday’s contest was not nearly as competitive, with the Fever struggling on both ends early but especially defensively.
“This is a team you can’t come out and be lackadaisical against; they’re just that good,” said No. 1 draft pick Caitlin Clark, who was…
