Mohegan — Anger can be a gift.

The Connecticut Sun showed that Wednesday night in their 92-77 win over the New York Liberty before 6,412 at Mohegan Sun Arena.

Connecticut was ticked off at both the officials and the Liberty and probably more at the former than the latter.

The Sun got mad and channeled their rage in the fourth quarter. Reserve Jonquel Jones scored 13 of her game-high 21 that period as they turned a six-point lead with over nine minutes left into a resounding 88-68 advantage.

“We played a little bit angry,” Connecticut coach Curt Miller said. “I told them after the game I’m 49 and single, so I’m always angry, and I liked seeing them a little angry with an edge tonight.”

It was the third win in a row for the Sun (15-12).

It was not the best night for the officials, especially with WNBA president Lisa Borders in the house. The Sun (and their very vocal fans) thought they were getting whistled for things New York was not. Alyssa Thomas and Miller were both called for technicals in the third quarter.

Connecticut did something productive with its anger.

“We were complaining and being a little too much on the refs,” the Sun's Layshia Clarendon said. “The bench was like, ‘Hey, OK, leave the refs alone. Channel it (their anger). Don’t give them that energy.’

“It kind of hit a tipping point. ... We were all like, ‘OK, the refs are what they are tonight. That’s fine. We’re not always going to agree with the calls, but let’s focus on the things we can control.’ And I think we just took it out on New York.”

Jones, a 6-foot-6 post, made three 3-pointers in the fourth. She made back-to-back 3s to push the Sun ahead 85-68 with 2:35 remaining.

“The anger level was high,” Jones said. “I think that helped us play with a lot of energy.”

Courtney Williams tracked down her own missed 3-pointer less than a minute later and connected on a second 3-point attempt to give Connecticut an 88-68 lead with 1:38 left.

The Sun made 11 of 26 3-pointers.

Connecticut is in seventh place in the overall standings with seven games left.

The top eight teams make the playoffs and, with 18 days left in the season, it’s a crowded mess — just four games separate the second-place Atlanta Dream (16-10) and the ninth-place Las Vegas Aces (12-14).

The Phoenix Mercury (16-12) are one game ahead of the Sun and hold the head-to-head tiebreaker.

The Mercury snapped a four-game losing streak late Wednesday with a 104-93 win at Las Vegas. They had lost seven of their last 10, including a 102-91 home loss to the first-place Seattle Storm late Tuesday.

Connecticut has a one-game lead over the eighth-place Dallas Wings (14-12) based on the head-to-head tiebreaker. The teams will play two more times.

The Sun have a 2 ½ game lead over Las Vegas, which has won seven of its last 11 to get into the playoff mix.

The Aces have eight games left, including one Sunday at Connecticut. It’ll be the third and final regular season meeting between the two with the winner taking the head-to-head tiebreaker.

Williams had 17 points, eight rebounds, six assists and two steals for the Sun while Chiney Ogwumike had 12 points and six rebounds.

Shekinna Stricklen had a four-point play to begin the game and scored 10 for Connecticut.

New York (7-19) was without starters Epiphanny Prince (right knee contusion) and Shavonte Zellous (right ankle sprain). It led 23-21 early in the second quarter and kept pace with the Sun for three quarters.

“It doesn’t help,” Liberty head coach Katie Smith said about the injuries, “but it is still a winnable ball game? No doubt. I think we have enough to compete in this league and could have tonight. Some of the discipline things, like being able to shut down people and guard them, let us down tonight. We have to be able to lock in and guard people, and on the defensive end, it is not about talent. It’s all about effort.”

Sugar Rodgers led the Liberty with 16 points with six assists. She scored nine of her points on 3-pointers in the last 1:30 of the game.

Tina Charles, who has played at an MVP level despite her team’s struggles, had 12 points and six rebounds.

The Sun's Alyssa Thomas (12 rebounds, four assists, two steals) did yeoman’s work defending Charles. Charles made 5 of 11 shots, but she was averaging 17.2 attempts.

“We tried to double the ball out of Tina’s hands tonight,” Miller said. “She is fantastic, but only giving her 11 shot attempts. … we kept her shot attempts down. The aggressive doubles from the guards really made Tina have to give the ball up early.

“I’m proud of our defense. (It’s) the third straight game that (we did) some good things at that end, and we need that end in order to accomplish some of our goals and make the playoffs.”

n.griffen@theday.com