Mohegan — The Connecticut Sun trailed early on Saturday night. They fought back and took a second-half lead. They made too many mistakes late for a team that doesn’t have the talent to overcome too many errors.

It was the same old, same old for Connecticut. They came. They tried. They lost to the league-leading New York Liberty 80-66 before 5,874 fans at Mohegan Sun Arena.

The Sun have lost seven in a row.

Rinse and repeat.

“We were the ones who did not play (Friday) night,” Connecticut head coach Anne Donovan said. “We were relatively fresh playing at that point (the fourth quarter). We were trying to put the pedal down, get back in transition and push the ball, but it just did not happen.”

The Sun (12-17) are on the precipice of missing the playoffs for a third straight season. They would be eliminated with a loss at the Chicago Sky on Sunday or a Washington Mystics win at the Seattle Storm.

The only way Connecticut makes the playoffs is if it wins its final five games and the Mystics lose their last seven.

“Still have to show up,” the Sun's Kelsey Bone said. “Still have to play. Still want to be competitive. Just because there are five left does not mean we have to lose all five. Just because the playoffs are way over yonder, we do not have to lay down and take it. So we have to figure out a way to get it done and show a little pride.”

Epiphanny Prince had 18 points and four steals for New York (20-8) and rookie Kiah Stokes of UConn added 12 points and 10 rebounds. Former Sun Tina Charles added 15 points and five assists.

Bone had 22 points and seven rebounds for Connecticut and Shekinna Stricklen scored 10.

The odds were stacked against the Sun before the opening tip. They didn’t have a player like Charles or Prince. It was the fourth straight game that they played without all-star guard Alex Bentley (ankle), starting forward Alyssa Thomas (shoulder) and rookie reserve center Elizabeth Williams (knee).

Consider, too, that the Liberty had their way Olympians Sylvia Fowles, Maya Moore, Lindsay Whalen and the rest of the Western Conference-leading Minnesota Lynx on Friday (81-68). Connecticut doesn’t have Minnesota’s firepower.

New York led the Sun by as much as 35-22 with over four minutes left in the first half.

Connecticut rallied to take a 48-46 lead with 6 minutes, 25 seconds remaining in the third quarter. The game was tied at 57 to start the fourth.

Seven of the Sun’s 19 turnovers came in the fourth quarter. New York outscored it that quarter 23-9.

“(Turnovers) have been our demise recently,” Donovan said. “When we played New York the last time, we gave them 28 points off of our turnovers, so it was a focus going into tonight, taking care of the ball. And every time we turned it over in the first three quarters, it led to something at the other end.”

The turnovers were particularly problematic for Connecticut as it shot well enough to win (46.6 percent). Opponents have averaged a league-low 38.3 percent against the Liberty.

The Sun couldn’t stop New York, however, as it shot 55.9 percent. And the Sun kept turning it over.

“As a team, we needed to execute better offensively,” said Connecticut’s Jasmine Thomas (nine points, four assists, five turnovers). “I’m holding myself accountable because I turned it over too much.

“We were a little bit stagnant when (New York) took away the first or the second option. We were kind of just standing around. Even when the ball went inside to Bone, we were just standing. I feel like that made us second-guess our passes.”

n.griffen@theday.com

Twitter: @MetalNED