Alyssa Thomas Drops Historic Triple-Double As Sun Avoid Elimination vs. Aces

Connecticut kept its season alive Thursday night thanks, in part, to an impressive well-rounded effort from the All-Star forward.

UNCASVILLE, Conn. (AP) — Alyssa Thomas had the first triple-double in WNBA Finals history, and the Connecticut Sun staved off elimination by beating the Las Vegas Aces 105-76 in Game 3 on Thursday night.

Thomas had 16 points, 15 rebounds and 11 assists for the Sun, who have now won all four of their elimination games in these playoffs, topping Dallas on the road in the first round and beating Chicago in Games 4 and 5 to close out that series.

The Connecticut Sun live to fight another day 😤

Big night for Alyssa Thomas:

• 16 PTS
• 15 REB
• 11 AST

She's the first player in #WNBAFinals history to record a triple-double 👏🏾 #CTSun pic.twitter.com/RXwt6gj0DA

— Sports Illustrated (@SInow) September 16, 2022

Game 4 of this best-of-five series is Sunday in Connecticut.

Las Vegas got off to a fast start, scoring nine of the first 11 points and forcing Connecticut to call a timeout. That settled the Sun down and they took over, outscoring the Aces 32–10 the rest of the quarter, including 25 of the final 29 points. Connecticut made 14 of its 17 shots in the period and DeWanna Bonner was a big reason why.

She struggled in the first two games of the series, scoring five points total while missing 16 of her 18 shots. She had seven points in the opening 8 minutes on Thursday night and finished with 18. Jonquel Jones led the Sun with 20 points.

Jones, Bonner and Thomas helped Connecticut dominate inside as the Sun set a Finals record with 64 points in the paint while holding Las Vegas to 26.

Connecticut used that advantage to lead 53-34 with 1:44 left in the second quarter before the Aces closed the period by scoring the final nine points, including a buzzer-beating 3-pointer from Kelsey Plum from just inside half-court.

The Sun seized momentum back to start the third quarter, scoring the first five points. Las Vegas couldn’t get closer than six the rest of the game.

Jackie Young scored 22 points and A’ja Wilson added 19 for the Aces.

The victory thwarted Las Vegas’ first attempt at winning the franchise’s inaugural WNBA championship. The team had been in the Finals twice before and got swept in 2008 and 2020.