Mohegan — It was the perfect storm for a Connecticut Sun disaster Saturday night.

The Sun had just nine players dressed, three less than the typical WNBA team. They couldn’t even be called “nine healthy players” either.

One of the nine available was rookie Feyonda Fitzgerald, who was signed Thursday and hadn’t played a minute in the league. Injuries left Connecticut with just three post players. It was also down two starters.

If all that wasn’t bad enough, the Sun were facing the Atlanta Dream, who had beaten them eight straight times.

All that ... and Connecticut dominated. All five starters scored in double figures as it routed the Dream 104-71 to win its first home game of the season before 5,327 at Mohegan Sun Arena.

“Crazy,” Sun head coach Curt Miller said. “I thought we were going to (have to) muck it up a little bit, make it a big ugly tonight. I thought it was the way (to win).

“I’m really, really proud of them. It was a total team effort. We needed all nine (of them).”

It was the Sun’s first game without starting guard Alex Bentley, who is training with the Belarus national team for the FIBA EuroBasket tournament later this month.

It was Connecticut’s third game without starting post Morgan Tuck (knee contusion).

Lynetta Kizer, the Sun’s top post reserve, injured her back at practice on Friday and couldn’t play.

“The first practice after we decided to trade (forward) Jordan Hooper (to Atlanta),” Miller joked.

Jonquel Jones had a game-high 20 points and 14 rebounds for Connecticut (3-5). That’s become the norm for the Sun.

Reserve Shekinna Stricklen and second-year guard Courtney Williams, starting for Tuck and Bentley, respectively, were the two biggest stories of the night.

Stricklen made four of seven 3-pointers and scored 19 with five rebounds, this from a player whose struggles during the preseason and early in the regular season were painful to watch.

“It goes back to the story where when you don’t have to look over your shoulder and you’re going to be able to play through a miss, play through a defensive mistake, or a missed assignment,” Miller said, “and you can just keep playing. Shekinna is someone who can get on a roll and get on really hot stretches. Right now, she’s getting extended minutes, which is only going to help her.”

Williams played 38 minutes and had 19 points, six rebounds and four assists.

“Me and Courtney, we’re both like, ‘we have to step it up,’” Stricklen said. “The support we have on this team is amazing. Our chemistry is amazing. And when you’re out there with AT (Alyssa Thomas), Jas (Jasmine Thomas) and JJ (Jones), the top starters, they make you feel like you should be out there with them. Just play our game and be confident.”

Jasmine Thomas had 14 points, four assists and three steals and Alyssa Thomas added 18 points.

Elizabeth Williams had 11 points and seven rebounds for the Dream (4-4).

Atlanta was without starting post Sancho Lyttle, who will play for Spain at the EuroBasket tournament. Star Angel McCoughtry is taking the season off.

It looked as if disaster had struck the Sun again when Stricklen stepped on someone’s foot with one minute, 56 seconds left in the third quarter. She fell, grabbed her already ailing right ankle, and had to be helped off the floor and taken to the locker room.

Connecticut led by six points when she left. It closed the quarter with a 9-3 run. Jasmine Thomas closed out the quarter with two free throws and a three-point play to push the Sun ahead 67-55.

Stricklen got her ankle taped and returned with 6:58 left in the game.

Connecticut outscored the Dream in the fourth quarter, 37-16.

“Even through the stale moments, they stayed positive and stayed together,” Miller said. “That was a hungry team tonight.”

• The Sun announced during the game that they had signed Kayla Pedersen. She'll join them Sunday. The 6-foot-4 forward was drafted seventh overall by the Tulsa Shock in 2011, and was traded to the Sun for a 2014 second-round pick on June 20, 2013. She played 89 games for Connecticut from 2013-2015 and took last season off to work for a youth ministry. Pedersen had signed a training camp contract with the Sun during this offseason, but was waived in May after she broke her thumb playing in Italy.

n.griffen@theday.com