BOSTON — Brionna Jones dived on the floor late in the fourth quarter of Tuesday night’s contest against the Los Angeles Sparks and wrestled the ball away from Li Yueru. With the Connecticut Sun down two points, Jones managed to bounce the ball to teammate Ty Harris, who flew down the floor and attempted a layup over her defender. Harris missed, but teammate Alyssa Thomas corralled the offensive board, put the ball back up for the basket and drew the foul.
The crowd erupted, and Thomas’ free throw pushed the Sun ahead for good. The cheers only grew in fervor as Connecticut made hustle play after hustle play on defense and ended the evening on a 14-2 run to secure a 69-61 win.
“Beat L.A.” chants echoed throughout the arena as the Sun pulled away, and boos joyously ensued after Sparks coach Curt Miller was ejected 90 seconds before the final buzzer.
In those final minutes, it was easy to forget the Sun were playing in another state, some 100 miles away from…
