The Connecticut Sun have 12 Eastern Conference games left in their WNBA regular season.

Connecticut has the East’s worst conference record.

The Sun need to start winning conference games now, starting Sunday at the Indiana Fever (Bankers Life Fieldhouse, 6 p.m.)

Indiana (10-8) is in fourth place and beaten fifth-place Connecticut (9-8) twice at Mohegan Sun Arena. They'll play one last time at Indiana (Sept. 1).

The top four teams in each conference qualify for the playoffs, and the East is beginning to look a five-team race for those spots. The Atlanta Dream, last year’s East regular-season champion, are in last place (7-12) and in a shame spiral. They’ve lost six of their last 10 games and dealt veteran center Erika de Souza last week in a three-way trade that sent holdout Sylvia Fowles from the Chicago Sky to the league-leading Minnesota Lynx.

The Sun have the worst conference record (3-7). They and Atlanta are the East's only teams under .500 in conference play.

Tamika Catchings’ fadeaway jumper with 6.5 seconds left in overtime gave the Fever a 75-73 win at Connecticut on July 28. Indiana has gotten balanced scoring from Catchings (12.8 ppg, 6.9 rpg), wing Marissa Coleman (11.8 ppg), and guard Shenise Johnson (11.1 ppg, 4.7 rpg).

Connecticut’s perimeter game has suffered the past two games with All-Star guard Alex Bentley battling an unspecified illness. She’s averaged 15.1 points, ninth-best in the league, but scored just 5 in the last two games.

— Ned Griffen