The Connecticut Sun had one of their ugliest 10 minutes during the second quarter of Tuesday night's game against the New York Liberty.

Really ugly.

The Sun shot an abysmal 17.6 percent in the second quarter as they were flummoxed by New York's zone defense. They trailed by three points at the halftime.

DeWanna Bonner, however,proved again in the second half that she could carry the offensive burden for her new team.

Bonner scored 21 of her game-high 27 points in the second half to help short-handed Connecticut pull out a much-needed 70-65 win over the last-placeLiberty at IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla.

The Sun (8-9) are the closest they've been to .500 since their first game of the season. They also held on to seventh place in the overall WNBA standings with five games remaining.

The top eight teams qualify for the playoffs.

Bonner also had a game-high 12 rebounds for Connecticut, which shot a meager 32.9 percent.

"Our offense really struggled tonight," Sun head coach Curt Miller said. "We didn't make a lot of shots (23 of 70). I think we made (three) shots in the first half from outside the paint. Their zone bothered us. I think we went 0-for-8 the first eight possessions against their zone

"DeWanna wanted the ball. You eventually knew she was getting herself to the foul line. It was one of those games where we didn't have a lot going on offensively, so we started to play though her.

Bonner shot 7 of 23 from the floor. She did, however, get herself to the free throw line a bunch. She made 12 of 13 free throws, including 8 of 9 in the second half.

"The first half, their zone slowed us down," Bonner said. "I didn't shoot the ball like I wanted to shoot the ball, but I wanted to get to the free throw line; try to create a little bit."

Alyssa Thomas, named the Eastern Conference Player of the Week by league coaches on Monday, had 15 points, six rebounds, five steals and four assists for Connecticut. Natisha Hiedeman scored 10 off the bench.

Brionna Jones, who missed the Sun's last game to an ankle injury, had 10 rebounds.

Connecticut announced an hour before the game that starting point guard Jasmine Thomas was out with plantar fasciitis. She was wearing a walking boot on her right foot.

UConn's Kia Nurse scored 18 points and Jazmine Jones 15 for New York (2-14).

The Liberty shot 34.5 percent (19 of 65), the second straight game in which an opponent made under 20 field goals.

The Sun hadn't held an opponent to under 20 field goals in consecutive games since July 8 and 12, 2002, when they were the Orlando Miracle. The Phoenix Mercury were the last team to do that (2015).

The Sun made 8 of their first 18 shots (44.4 percent). Hiedeman's 3-pointer gave them their largest lead, 21-10, 50 seconds into the quarter.

But Connecticut's offense rapidly went into a downward spiral. It made just 2 of 14 shots the rest of the quarter and trailed at halftime, 32-29.

Bonner opened the second half with a layup and a three-point play to put Connecticut ahead, 34-32, just 1:19 into the third quarter.

Connecticut never trailed again.

The Sun led 65-57 with 1:39 left, but New York wouldn't go away.

Two free throws by Nurse and Kiah Stokes' putback cut the Liberty's deficit to 65-61 with 1:15 remaining.

Kylee Shook's steal led to Jones getting two free throws at the other end for New York with 1:00 remaining. She missed both.

Briann January drew a charge on Nurse in transition with 31.6 seconds left.

Bonner's jumper gave Connecticut breathing room, 67-61, with 16.7 seconds left.

"As clunky as our offense tonight, that was a huge win in terms of playoff implications," Miller said.

n.griffen@theday.com

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Bonner leads Sun to important 70-65 win over Liberty - theday.com