UNCASVILLE, Conn. -- Nykesha Sales leaped high to pluck Detroit's last heave from the air as time ran out. She landed tightly hugging the ball as the Connecticut Sun finally wrapped up a win against the Detroit Shock.
It was a long time coming.
Sales scored 22 points and matched a career high with 10 rebounds Friday night in the Sun's 71-67 overtime win, the team's first in the last eight meetings with the defending WNBA champs. Those losses also included Detroit's two-game sweep over Connecticut in the 2003 Eastern Conference playoffs.
"Before the game we said this is going to be like a playoff game," Sales said. "This is a team we definitely need to beat."
Sales hit two free throws with 13.6 seconds left to send the game into overtime tied at 61. Her fallaway jumper 15 seconds into the final period kicked off an 8-0 run, and the Sun held the Shock at bay down the stretch.
Sales picked up her fifth foul with 5:57 left in regulation, but remained on the floor until the final buzzer. She was anything but tentative, grabbing three steals and three defensive rebounds in overtime.
Swin Cash led Detroit with 22 points and eight rebounds. Nearly unstoppable in the opening half, Cash had 10 points in the first eight minutes and 18 by the break, shooting 8-for-10. Her baseline jumper with 1.8 seconds left tied it 34-34 at the half.
Most of Cash's early baskets came on the fast break, but stronger rebounding by the Sun in the second half bottled up Detroit's running game. Cash had just one field goal in the second half.
"We just had to get back on defense, play great defense and get those rebounds so they couldn't get out. Nobody was really scoring but (Cash)," Sales said.
With six lead changes in the second half, neither team led by more than six points. Sales' fifth foul sent Deanna Nolan to the line and her two free throws put Detroit up 54-48.
Sales then scored eight of Connecticut's final 13 points in the period, including the game-tying free throws in the closing seconds.
Detroit was missing starter Cheryl Ford and reserve Barbara Harris from its front court, and the Sun outrebounded the Shock 43-33. Ford's grandfather died and she left the team to be with her family; Harris has a dislocated shoulder.
"I have no bench. Our two big players are out and they caught us on a lucky night," Shock coach Bill Laimbeer said.
Asjha Jones finished with 14 points for Connecticut and Taj McWilliams-Franklin added 12 and 10 rebounds. Sun rookie Lindsay Whalen had a career-high 10 assists.
The overtime win was the first for the Sun in the five extra-period games the team has played since moving from Orlando last year. The win also moved Connecticut into second place in the conference with a 7-7 record.
"We have a tough stretch in front of us still," Sun coach Mike Thibault said. "It feels good to win, but I would have felt good tonight regardless of who we beat."
The Sun will have another crack at the Shock on Sunday when they travel to the Palace of Auburn Hills for the second game of a home-and-home series.
Laimbeer wasn't worried.
"We don't care, we'll play anybody," Laimbeer said. "This is the one game that they thought was the national championship for them and they got it."
AP NEWS
The Associated Press News Service
Copyright 2004, The Associated Press, All Rights Reserved
