Mohegan — In the past 13 summers, the Connecticut Sun locker room has been awash in scores of different personalities. Insightful Rebecca Lobo, deadpanning Lindsay Whalen, unintentionally funny (and then sometimes intentionally funny) Nykesha Sales, high octane Debbie Black, steely-eyed Asjha Jones. None of them ever clicked their heels after losing.

But if the 7-3 record isn't the best talking point thus far for the Sun of 2015, this is: They are ornery after a loss. It's wonderful, really. Not when they lose, of course, but the level of blood boiling is appreciated.

Such was the case Thursday night at Mohegan Sun Arena. The Sun played great. Apologies to coach Anne Donovan and her players who didn't want to hear it after a brutal 77-74 loss to the Fighting Elena Delle Donnes of Chicago. Sometimes, though, the truth is clearer to those of us on the outside.

The effort was noteworthy. The coaching was brilliant. They just didn't score enough at the end, a result of not having second-leading scorer Kelsey Bone.

It's hard enough to beat the Sky with the entire arsenal. The Sun led for most of the game without starting center Bone and her 15 points per game. This is of particular note against Chicago, whose post defense without Sylvia Fowles is softer than cream cheese. Alyssa Thomas missed a chunk of the third period with an injury to her hip.

The Sun held Delle Donne to 12 points, 16 below her season average. They ran at her. They were actually allowed to defend her until the fourth period when everything became a foul. They held Cappie Pondexter to eight points. They played with their fangs out all night, shorthanded. If ever there was a night for the fans in the arena to salute their team after a loss, this was it.

And yet after the game, Alex Bentley sat at her locker, head down, providing whatever answers she could to the team's nine-point fourth period. Camille Little sat next to her and growled her way through a few interviews. It was terrific.

"It's tough to go in (to a 10-day break) of a loss. I'll be honest about that," Donovan said. "The best thing about this team is that I walked into that locker room kind of at a loss because this is a game — we held Delle Donne to 12 and Cappie to eight — that we needed to win. When I walked in that locker room, they knew it. They were quiet. Hanging their heads. I didn't have to say anything. There's a lot of self-coaching that goes on in there."

And there, in one paragraph, Donovan described why the future is so bright here. This season, still one that holds promise, is the one they'll refer to here when the winning gets more regular. Donovan hasn't merely upgraded the talent here, but found the personalities, too.

It begins with Little. She does not suffer fools. Ask a stupid question ... duck. Just as it should be. There haven't been many players here in Sun history who have provided such an instant backbone this quickly into their careers.

This week, she was assigned Tamika Catchings to guard Tuesday and Delle Donne on Thursday.

"That's my job," Little said succinctly. "I can't say 'let me guard somebody else.'"

When Little said, "Let me guard somebody else," she did so mimicking a whiny voice. It was funny. Except that had you laughed, she might have flattened you.

Later, I asked Little how much credit she takes for the 7-3 record and the general toughness of this group.

"Why would I take credit?" she said. "Look, it's all these people in there. I would never take all that credit. I just can't do it."

Another writer asked her why she's so successful at frustrating Delle Donne.

"Last game (against Chicago at Mohegan Sun) she had 20 something (points)," Little said, somewhat incredulously. "I don't want to take any credit. Our team did a good job tonight. There were two or three people around her a lot."

She was the most talkative alluding to one of her mistakes. The Sun had the ball and a one-point lead with about 30 seconds left. Little passed up a wide open three, resulting in a hideous possession that led to a turnover.

Little nodded her head. "I should have shot it. My brain, my brain. I thought about that during the walk back in here."

It's pretty clear Little saves her personality for her teammates. That's fine. She personifies the new Sun. They'll be in the playoff race all summer. We have a summer. All we can ask.

"I'm not going to talk about who's not out there," Donovan said, referring to Bone's absence. "It comes down to who we have. And who we do have is pretty special."

This is the opinion of Day sports columnist Mike DiMauro.

Twitter: @BCgenius