Los Angeles — The WNBA season is a little over two weeks old, and already the Connecticut Sun have matched last season’s number of road wins.

Alex Bentley had eight of her season-high 21 points in the fourth quarter as Connecticut rallied to beat the shorthanded Los Angeles Sparks on Sunday, 78-69, to both sweep its West Coast trip and extend its winning streak to six.

The Sun were 4-13 on the road last year. They were even worse in 2013 (2-15).

“Different team, different locker room, different mindset,” Connecticut head coach Anne Donovan said. “There’s maturity about this group that they know they can defend, so that can bring us back and it did today.”

Connecticut (6-1) won at the Phoenix Mercury, Seattle Storm and Los Angeles during its road trip. It never beat all three on the road in the same season.

“It’s been a great road trip for us,” Donovan said. “We've gained valuable experience. We won by (over) 20 at Seattle (79-58, June 16). We won in double overtime (at Phoenix, 90-78, Friday). We came in and had to play from behind today and just showed a lot of character.

“It’s great to be tested on the road and come out on the winning side. It’s still early in the season, but so far we've met the challenge.”

Three other players scored in double figures for the Sun. Kelsey Bone had 14 points and five rebounds, reserve Chelsea Gray had 11 points, four rebounds, three steals and three assists, and Camille Little had 13 points, four rebounds and three steals. Bentley also had five rebounds and three steals.

Jantel Lavender had 17 points and 10 rebounds for Los Angeles (0-4) and Temeka Johnson added 15 points and 10 assists.

The winless Sparks gave Connecticut fits despite dressing just eight players. They were missing four starters — Alana Beard (left foot), Nneka Ogwumike (ankle), Kristi Toliver (Slovakia national team commitments), and Candace Parker (sabbatical). Reserve Erin Phillips (knee) also sat out the game.

“My belief, and I don’t know what anyone else’s is, is if we talk about the people who aren’t here, then it’s really disrespecting the people who are,” Los Angeles coach Brian Agler said. “I’m just going to focus on our people who worked and put our team in a position to win and try to make plays down the stretch.”

Los Angeles led almost the entire game. Bentley’s layup with 7 minutes, 2 seconds remaining in the game gave the Sun a 58-57 lead they never relinquished.

“It’s been a long road,” Bentley said, “but as competitors, we all have to find it within us to just keep pushing. We know we could win this game just like any other game. There are no excuses.”

Los Angeles scored 28 in the first quarter and led 40-30 at halftime.

Bentley scored six straight points to push Connecticut ahead with seven minutes left in the game. Gray followed with a turnaround jumper, and then turned a steal into a layup to give her team a 66-59 lead with 3:38 remaining.

“We tried to (keep the momentum), but again, they closed the game,” Little said. “They were still energized. I think, towards the end, finally, we made some plays and created a little gap for us.”