The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Tribune Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

Jonquel Jones and the Connecticut Sun will open the WNBA Playoffs and their prospective title run tonight.

The No.4 ranked Sun will host the No.5 Phoenix Mercury at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut in a game broadcast live on ESPN 2 at 8:30pm.

Last year, the two teams met in the same round and the Mercury eliminated the Sun 88-83 on the road.

The winner of the single elimination game will advance to the semifinals against either the top-seeded Seattle Storm or the second-seeded Atlanta Dream. That will depend on the outcome of the other second-round game featuring No. 3 Washington Mystics and No. 6 Los Angeles Sparks.

The Mercury advanced to the second round Tuesday night with a 101-83 victory over the Dallas Wings.

The Sun were 1-2 against the Mercury during the regular season.

Jones was recently named the Eastern Conference Player of the Week for games played Aug. 13-19.

It was her first Player of the Week honour for the season and the third time in her three-year career as Connecticut.

Ranked

She ranked second among Eastern Conference players in scoring (23.3 points), third in rebounding (eight rebounds) per game and first in field goal percentage (73.5 percent 25-34). Jones also finished third in blocks (1.67 blocks) and three-point shooting, connecting on 68.8 percent of her shots (11-16) from behind the arch.

Connecticut led the WNBA in both scoring average (87.6 points) and rebounding average (36.88 rebounds per game), and finished second in field goal percentage (46.6 percent) and three-point percentage (36.7 percent).

Jones finished second in the league in three-point percentage (46.7 percent). She finished her third WNBA season with starts in 16 of her 34 appearances. She finished with averages of 11.8 points and 5.5 rebounds per game this season.

The Sun comes into the playoffs with a four-game winning streak, including an 86-83 win over the Sparks in the season finale to clinch the No.4 seed and a first-round bye.

The semifinals feature a best-of-five format, with the No. 1 overall seed playing the lowest remaining seed and the No. 2 overall seed meeting the remaining team.

The No 1 and 2 seeds will host Games 1, 2 and 5, and the lower-seeded teams will host Games 3 and 4 in their respective series.

The WNBA Finals remain best-of-five and follow the same 2-2-1 format.