UNCASVILLE, Conn. (AP) — The San Antonio Stars are making up for their losses at home by winning on the road.
Becky Hammon scored 18 points and Danielle Robinson had 17 to help the Stars beat the Connecticut Sun 74-71 on Tuesday night for their fifth straight road win.
Kayla McBride added 15 points for San Antonio (9-8), and Robinson also had seven assists and three steals. The Stars, 3-5 at home, improved to 6-3 on the road.
“There is no secret,” Stars coach Dan Hughes said. “We have had a couple of good defensive games in a row and that helps you win on the road, but I don’t know, if I had the secret, I would feel like I’m smart.”
Katie Douglas scored 25 points and Kelsey Bone had 12 points and 14 rebounds for the Sun (8-9), who lost their third straight after a six-game winning streak.
Connecticut trailed 55-43 with 1:07 left in the third quarter before rallying to tie the score 61-all with 2:42 to go in the fourth.
Jayne Appel answered with a layup on the other end for the Stars.
“We gave Appel a layup that was just inexcusable,” Sun coach Anne Donovan said. “To me, we had a nice run going and we let her walk in there and score.”
The Sun were called for a shot-clock violation on their next possession with Renee Montgomery having to heave up a desperation shot after getting trapped above 3-point line.
McBride made a 3-pointer on the other end to push San Antonio’s edge to 66-61 with 1:45 remaining.
“We are not distracted on the road at all,” Hammon said. “We come together nicely and just execute. It’s a good sign for us. We need to do a little better at home, but we will get that figured out.”
San Antonio trailed 33-27 seconds into the second half when Hammon scored 12 of her team’s 28 points that quarter.
“That is vintage Becky,” Hughes said. “A lot of times I have seen her where teams give her a lot of attention in the first half, but at some point in the game she is going to find the ability to get open and make you pay and our ball movement found her and that was key.”
Kayla Alexander made two free throws to push the Stars’ advantage to 55-43, their largest of the game.
The Sun missed nine of 11 layups in the second quarter and 11 overall in first half.
“Eleven missed layups in the first half are tough to overcome, and at the same time you overcome it, you don’t get lax on defense,” Donovan said. “The (28) points San Antonio scored in the third quarter were a product of us thinking about missed layups and missed shots and us being completely complacent defensively.”
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