UNCASVILLE — When starting point guard Tyasha Harris went down with a right ankle injury just four minutes into the Connecticut Sun’s first playoff game against the Indiana Fever on Sunday, the team could have easily fallen apart.
Instead, the veteran squad seemed to unlock another level of intensity in their 93-69 rout of the No. 6 Fever, taking a 1-0 lead in the first-round playoff series. Connecticut went 9-for-18 from beyond the arc without its second-best shooter on the floor while holding Indiana to just 6-for-28, and four players finished with at least 12 points.
“Whenever you see a teammate go down it’s really tough, especially in these moments because it’s where everyone wants to be,” reserve point guard Veronica Burton said. “But it’s next man up, and as an athlete we all know that and are ready for that … It’s tough. I think spacing-wise you have to find a different way to go about things, but as good of a team as we are and as deep as we are, I think experience really kind of kicked in.”
Harris returned to the bench with a bag of ice wrapped against her ankle during the second quarter, and she wore a walking boot on the sideline after halftime. Sun coach Stephanie White did not have an update postgame on Harris’s status, and the team has a quick turnaround before facing Indiana for Game 2 at Mohegan Sun Arena on Wednesday (7:30 p.m., ESPN). Connecticut can clinch a berth in the semifinals with a win.
Harris started 38 of 39 games that she appeared in for the Sun in 2024, averaging a career-high 10.5 points and three assists shooting 42.5% from the field and 39.5% on 3-pointers. White experimented with Marina Mabrey in the opening lineup as Connecticut worked to integrate her after she was traded at the Olympic break, but she quickly returned to the starting five that played the first half of the season.
Though Harris’s minutes have taken a slight dip since Mabrey joined the roster, she has hit her stride down the stretch for the Sun. She logged at least 12 points in three of the team’s final four regular-season game, and she was impactful down the stat sheet with nine points and six rebounds against the No. 2 Minnesota Lynx. On top of her scoring ability, Harris has been more reliable on the defensive end than Mabrey and has a better assist-to-turnover ratio.
However, there may not be a team better equipped to lose its starting point guard in the postseason than Connecticut. The Sun already facilitate much of their offense through superstar Alyssa Thomas, who logged 13 assists in the Game 1 win over Indiana, and though it hurts to lose an additional 3-point threat, Mabrey is more than capable of compensating for that production if she gets hot.
Mabrey was unstoppable in Game 1, setting a new WNBA record for points off the bench in a playoff game with 27 on five made 3-pointers. She shot nearly 42% from beyond the arc and went 4-for-4 at the free throw line, also adding three assists and three rebounds. But if Mabrey isn’t the best version of herself, that’s when the Sun will miss Harris badly. Like any shooter, Mabrey has had her slumps since joining Connecticut: She shot 4-for-18 from 3-point range over four games in early September before breaking out with a career-high six 3-pointers for 26 points against the L.A. Sparks on Sept. 10.
“Every time (Mabrey) shoots a shot, I think it’s going in,” Sun coach Stephanie White said. “Every time she has the ball in her hand, she’s a threat, so you have to make sure you have an eye on her — and most of the time you’re guarding her with two people, sometimes three when she puts people in rotation. She was huge for us, and she’s going to continue to be huge for us.The opportunity for us to bring her on was one we took because we thought she could get us over the hump.”
If Harris is unavailable for Game 2 on Wednesday, Mabrey will likely take the starting spot in the lineup with Burton coming first off the bench. Burton, like Mabrey, wasn’t with the Sun to start the year but signed as a free agent in June after she was waived by the Dallas Wings during training camp. The third-year guard has steadily seen her role increase throughout the season, and she logged eight points shooting 3-for-4 plus a steal and a block in 19 minutes against the Fever on Sunday. Burton is also an elite defender on the perimeter, so pairing her with Mabrey allows Connecticut to have a strong option on the floor against Indiana’s sharpshooters while facilitating more looks for Mabrey on the offensive end.
“I like the way that V gets us into offense. I like the way that she runs the team,” White said. “I like them playing together and being able to have a more facilitating guard out there on the floor. Ty is a scoring point guard, and we need her to do that when she’s out there, but V understands if she’s got Marina and (DeWanna Bonner) out there on the floor or (DiJonai Carrington) and Marina out there on the floor — and we’re also encouraging Marina to bring the ball for a little bit more and be a little bit more versatile from that standpoint.”
The Sun already altered their defensive approach from previous meetings with the Fever in Game 1, lining the veteran Bonner up against Fever star Caitlin Clark while Carrington handled leading scorer Kelsey Mitchell. The rookie phenom struggled against Bonner’s length at 6-foot-4, scoring just 11 points shooting 4-for-17 from the field and 2-13 on 3-pointers. The team was also highly active, switching constantly and disrupting the Fever’s rhythm with 14 turnovers. Even Thomas had possessions guarding Clark, and the Sun’s versatility with personnel on defense helps lessen the impact of a loss like Harris.
“It was about having length. It was about giving us versatility in our pick-and-roll situations, to give it a different look,” White said. “So much about about this game is about comfort. It’s about rhythm, it’s about timing, it’s about all those things. So how can you make an adjustment that disrupts some of that? Kudos to DB for her willingness … It gave us a different look at the point and I really liked that.”
How to watch Connecticut Sun vs Indiana Fever in WNBA Playoffs Game 2
Site: Mohegan Sun Arena, Uncasville
Team records: Sun 29-12; Fever 20-21
Time: 7:30 p.m., Wednesday
Last meeting: 93-69, Sun; Sept. 22 in Indianapolis
TV: ESPN
Streaming: ESPN+
