Mystics can't keep up with Jones or Charles

Mohegan - Connecticut pulled an inside job Tuesday.

The Sun watched a 16-point lead cut to three by the Washington Mystics with seven minutes remaining in an Eastern Conference game they couldn't afford to lose.

The Sun's response - just get post players Asjha Jones and Tina Charles the basketball.

Jones and Charles combined for 12 points during a critical run that gave Connecticut an 88-78 win before 6,322 at Mohegan Sun Arena.

"My focus tonight was trying to get Tina the ball on the block in positions that made it harder for them to double team," Sun guard Kara Lawson (11 points, seven assists) said. "Try to get Asjha the ball where she can operate and clear out that spot.

"They really weren't able to stop those two inside tonight."

Jones had a game-high 23 points with five rebounds. It was the first time she scored 23 since, oddly enough, an Aug. 14, 2009 game against Washington. She then missed the rest of that season due to a right Achilles injury.

"She looked like Asjha," Connecticut coach Mike Thibault said. "She said today that she felt good. I can tell when she feels great, too, by the fact that she can either shoot the jump shot or she can drive it hard.

"The thing that she couldn't do at the end of last year and early this year is take the ball from the top of the key and drive it to the rim hard. It just wasn't comfortable. She didn't feel like she was on-balance. She was able to do that tonight. I thought that was big."

Charles added 15 points, nine rebounds and two blocks.

"Tina did a nice job when they got the ball down low," Washington guard Katie Smith said. "Asjha was knocking down shots. It's nice when you have a low-post presence and have someone else to knock down shots. Tan (White) did a nice job of penetrating and kicking out to the open man."

Connecticut (13-10) needed the win to maintain ground in the East. The Sun are in fourth place, a half-game behind the Mystics (13-9) and a game in front of the fifth place New York Liberty (12-11).

The Sun play New York and Washington five times each instead of four due to an unbalanced conference schedule. Connecticut has two games remaining against that duo.

Monique Currie had 18 points and nine rebounds for the Mystics.

Connecticut led 60-43 with three minutes, 15 seconds left in the third quarter.

Washington rallied to within three, 69-66, with 7:03 remaining in the game.

The Mystics had a small lineup on the floor with either Marissa Coleman and Smith, both guards, on Jones. The Sun exploited that match-up. Jones had eight points during a 12-7 run, pushing her team ahead, 81-73, with 2:01 left.

Charles scored the other four points during that run.

"I feel like it's a mismatch whoever is on Asjha," Lawson said, "but you put a perimeter player on her who's not used to playing (a post), that's absolutely a mismatch.

"Whoever was guarding Tina, we felt like we could take advantage one-on-one. When they go small, it's hard for them to double team the size. We just went to that well."

Connecticut also made 7 of 13 3-pointers. Renee Montgomery (17 points) had three of them.

"We just felt like we could go inside," Thibault said, "and if (Washington) helped - they're a pretty good help defense team in the paint - that we would be in the right position to knock down shots if they did. Renee made a couple of big ones out of the double teams. Asjha made foul line jumpers when Tina was double-teamed. We pretty much made the right decisions all night where to pass the ball."

n.griffen@theday.com