Minneapolis, Minn. — The Connecticut Sun have much room for improvement, just like every other WNBA team this early in the season.

Connecticut has started hotter than anyone, though, and are closing in on a franchise-record.

Jonquel Jones had her fifth double-double of the season as the Sun edged the Minnesota Lynx on Friday night, 85-81, before 8,803 at the Target Center.

Connecticut is a league-leading 7-1. It would match its best start in franchise history with a win at home Sunday against the Seattle Storm (Mohegan Sun Arena, 3:30 p.m., Ch. 8).

The Sun started 8-1 in both 2005 and 2008.

“Big road win for us,” Connecticut head coach Curt Miller said. “Anytime you can beat Minnesota here, it’s a huge win.

“(We) struggled a little bit down the stretch. We accomplished a lot of things defensively that we set out to do. Stuck to it, even with big games from Odyssey and Sylvia (Fowles), you know (those are) common. That’s a big road win. To win five in a row against Minnesota (over two seasons) is a big statement for this young team.”

Connecticut shot a season-best 50 percent (33 of 66), its second straight productive night after a pokey start.

The Sun began the week with the second-worst field goal percentage (37.9), a season after being the second-best in that category.

Jones had 16 points and a game-high 12 rebounds. She has earned Eastern Conference Player of the Week honors the past two weeks.

Shekinna Stricklen made 4 of 5 3-pointers and scored a season-high 16 for the Sun.

“Big, big threes,” Miller said about Stricklen. “We put her on the move. We did a good job screening for her. Again, we made timely threes when we needed (them). Strick seemed (to make) big basket after big basket.”

Stricklen said, “I just came in very confident. Just seeing the first one go in, you know you just feel good after that.”

Alyssa Thomas scored 16 for Connecticut. Reserve Rachel Banham, a Minnesota native who had over 60 family-and-friends at the game, scored 10.

Sims scored a season-high 25 with six rebounds for the Lynx (4-4) and Fowles had 17 points and nine rebounds.

UConn’s Napheesa Collier, the sixth overall pick in April’s draft, had 10 points and six rebounds for Minnesota.

“We let them in the paint too much,” Lynx Danielle Robinson said. “They had 44 points in the paint. Any team that we give 44 in the paint to, we're not really going to give ourselves the best chance. We just have to learn from it and know that our defensive principal is relying on us stopping people in the paint.”

Connecticut's Jasmine Thomas made a layup late in the third quarter to give her team a 64-63 lead — the 15th and final lead change.

Banham made 1 of 2 free throws to spark a 12-3 run that helped give the Sun some cushion. Her 3-pointer made it 79-70 with 5 minutes. 48 seconds left to cap the spurt.

Jones and Alyssa Thomas made back-to-back layups to give Connecticut a 10-point lead (85-75) with 3:03 remaining. It was the largest lead by either team.

Connecticut sputtered a bit at the end as it missed its next two field goals and turned it over twice. The second of those turnovers led to Robinson’s layup that cut the Sun’s lead to 85-81 with 1:14 left.

The Lynx got no closer as it turned it over on consecutive possessions and missed a late 3-pointer.