UNCASVILLE, Conn. — The Connecticut Sun entered the fourth quarter against the Indiana Fever on Sunday with victory in their grasp. They had led by as many as 21 points in the third, and a buzzer-beater 3-pointer from rookie Leila Lacan sent them into the final period still ahead by double-digits.

But as they have so many times this season, the Sun failed to maintain a full 40 minutes of execution, blowing a 15-point lead over the final eight minutes of the quarter and eventually falling 99-93 in overtime to the Fever. The team fell to 6-27 and was mathematically eliminated from playoff contention by the loss for the first time since 2016.

The disastrous fourth quarter for Connecticut started strong with back-to-back made 3-pointers by rookie Saniya Rivers, but the team was then outscored 32-21 as its defensive energy collapsed. After holding Fever star Kelsey Mitchell to just four points without a single field goal in the first half, the veteran guard finished with 28 points in regulation to power the comeback.

The Sun buckled under pressure in overtime, giving up an 8-2 run to the Fever over the opening two minutes that they never recovered from. Mitchell scored another 10 in overtime to tie her career high with 38 points plus six assists and two steals.

“Our mistake was thinking that we defended well the first half,” Sun coach Rachid Meziane said. “That wasn’t the case. They just missed the shots, and we tried in the second half to do the same thing, so we didn’t adjust our defense, but they scored the shots. So the game was completely different, and we lost our confidence on offense where we started to (make) some bad choices … They fought more than us I think in the second half, and it’s why they won the game.”

Connecticut’s rookies had impactful showings despite the loss led by a career-high 14 assists and three steals from Lacan, who also added seven points and four rebounds to her stat line. Rivers was the team’s third-leading scorer with 15 points on 6-for-10 shooting plus a career-high five blocks. Fellow 2025 first-rounder Aneesah Morrow had a team-high 11 rebounds on top of 10 points and two steals.

Sun star Marina Mabrey also returned to form after she missed 10 straight 3-pointers across the previous two games. Mabrey found early success getting to the rim, then hit her first shot beyond the arc late in the second quarter to build momentum into the second half. She finished with 27 points and five assists for her highest-scoring performance since a knee injury that sidelined her for nine games prior to the All-Star break.

But it wasn’t enough to overcome four double-digit scorers for Indiana behind Mitchell. Veteran forward Natasha Howard had 18 points and nine rebounds, and All-Star center Aliyah Boston added a double-double with 14 points and 13 rebounds. Guard Odyssey Sims, who signed with the Fever on a hardship contract a week ago, had 19 points plus a team-high seven assists.

“Just taking the positives from this game, like we scored 93 points and I thought we were pretty efficient offensively,” Mabrey said. “When you’re up by 20 to a team that is a good team in this league and has some veteran experience, they’re not going to come out and guard you the same way as they did in the second half. So just being able to slow down, calm down and see what they’re giving us I think will be something that we can adjust for the next game.”

Indiana’s win was colored by guard Sophie Cunningham’s right knee injury two minutes into the second quarter, which occurred when Sun guard Bria Hartley fell into her planted leg after she was knocked off balance going up for a layup. Cunningham was helped off the floor and did not return, leaving Indiana with eight available players and just three guards. The Fever were also missing superstar Caitlin Clark, and they had two other guards suffer season-ending injuries last week.

Even before Cunningham’s injury, Connecticut was dominating Indiana. After Indiana’s 4-1 lead in the opening minute, the Sun went on a 12-0 run and never trailed again for the rest of regulation. Veteran forward Tina Charles scored eight points single-handedly on that run, and the Sun held Indiana scoreless for more than four minutes.

Defense was the heart of Connecticut’s effort with 10 points off nine Indiana turnovers in the opening quarter. Lacan began the Sun’s run with a steal against Sims which she converted into a mid-range jumper, and a steal by Morrow extended the run to create a layup for Charles in transition. Every Fever player except for Sims and Howard was scoreless in the first, while Connecticut got contributions from seven different players to open up a 24-11 lead.

The Sun kept up the lockdown effort in the second quarter, holfding Indiana to a dismal 0-for-10 shooting start from 3-point range. Mitchell didn’t make a single field goal in the first half thanks to impressive on-on-one defense from a combination of Rivers and Lacan, and the Fever shot just 31.6% from the field as a team compared to Connecticut’s 57.6%. Both Rivers and Lacan had career-highs at halftime, Rivers in blocks with three and Lacan in assists with eight.

“I feel like they weren’t obviously hitting as many shots in the first half, so I feel like personally maybe my length was a factor. I think it’s hard to shoot over me,” Rivers said. “But obviously second half … it just seemed like the rim got way bigger for them, and that’s unfortunate for us. Sometimes you play great defense and they’re just better (on) offense … I think that was the difference-maker from the first half to the second, that they weren’t really hitting as many shots and we were hot, and I think it just flip-flopped.”

Indiana fought back into the game early in the third quarter after falling behind by as many as 21 points. Mitchell hit her first field goal two minutes into the half, then ended the Fever’s drought from 3-point range with a make a minute and a half later.

The Sun were outscored 23-15 in the third as Mitchell kept the hot hand, finishing with 14 points in the quarter to help Indiana cut the Sun’s lead to as little as eight points. Lacan once again came in clutch, nailing a 3-pointer from the top of the key at the end-of-quarter buzzer to push Connecticut back to a double-digit lead.

But the team couldn’t recover any of its early defensive momentum down the stretch, giving up another 10 points to Mitchell in the fourth to allow the Fever to force overtime. Indiana shot 60% from the field as a team after halftime including a 7 for 12 performance from beyond the arc.

“It’s our fault,” Meziane said. “(Mitchell) is a good player, and I have a lot of respect for her. She made some tough shots, but I feel that we gave her too many opportunities to find some mismatches, speed mismatches. (We didn’t) respect the game plan and keep our best defender on her. Every time we switched, she punished us.”

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