UNCASVILLE, CONN. — Lindsay Whalen had nine assists to set Connecticut's career record and scored 14 points to help the Sun overcome a 14-point deficit to beat the Houston Comets 78-68 Tuesday night.
Whalen sets Sun's career assists mark
July 2, 2008 at 5:49AM
Asjha Jones had 15 points and eight rebounds to lead the Sun (13-5), who maintained the top spot in the Eastern Conference.
"When you have Connecticut down, they still fight their way through," Houston coach Karleen Thompson said. "We had a bit of a lead, but we stopped playing defense."
Houston (7-9) played its third straight game without Olympian Tina Thompson, who has a broken left ring finger.
Matee Ajavon led Houston with 14 points. Michelle Snow had 11 points and Hamchetou Maiga-Ba had 11 points and 10 rebounds. Sancho Lyttle had nine points and 10 rebounds before fouling out with 4:33 left.
Whalen now has 744 assists, surpassing the Comets' Shannon Johnson, who had 737 when she played with the Orlando/Connecticut franchise from 1999 to 2003.
Houston led 36-22 with 3:34 left in the first half before Connecticut went on an 8-2 run before halftime.
The Sun used an 11-1 run to wipe out that deficit, and a 13-5 run gave them a 59-51 lead with 8:38 remaining.
Connecticut also overcame third-quarter technical fouls to Whalen, Jones and Tamika Whitmore.
"They fired us up," Jones said. "After they happened, we started to play better individually and as a team."
Jamie Carey made a pair of 3-point field goals in the fourth quarter for Connecticut, the second of which gave the Sun a 72-67 lead with 1:17 remaining.
Ajavon's free throw with 1:05 left got the Comets within four at 72-68, but Houston got no closer. Connecticut went 6-for-8 from the free throw line in the final minute.
Connecticut rookie Sandrine Gruda scored a career-high 14 points and former Comet Barbara Turner added 10 points and nine rebounds.
Gruda played much of the game with Jones and Whitmore, all of whom are 6-foot-2 or taller.
"We went with a big lineup to match their length and size," Connecticut coach Mike Thibault said. "We tried to stay big with them the rest of the game."
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