Mohegan — It was news to Connecticut Sun head coach Curt Miller when he found out over an hour before Tuesday night’s game that his team would clinch a playoff berth with a win over the Las Vegas Aces.

Miller said he wasn’t going to tell his team.

He lied.

“Trust me, he made us aware,” the Sun's DeWanna Bonner said with a grin. “We were like, ‘OK, we just want to win.’”

The Sun went out and once again got the league’s highest-scoring team stuck in mud. They won 76-62 in a battle between first-place teams to sweep the three-game regular-season series with the Aces before 4,012 at Mohegan Sun Arena.

Connecticut (18-6) its sixth straight game, a season high. It was also the third time this season it held Las Vegas under 70 points. The latter had averaged a league-high 90.5 points.

“So proud of our effort, our tenacity, our toughness tonight against an elite team,” Miller said. “They play at the fastest pace. They’re the league-leaders in points in the paint You name it, offensively, analytically, they’re the best in the league. And they have great depth.

“For us to hold them again in the 60s is just a credit to how hard we play (defensively).”

Connecticut also took sole control of first place after the Minnesota Lynx knocked off the defending WNBA champion Seattle Storm 76-70. The Sun has a one-game lead over both teams with eight games to go.

Seattle swept the Sun this season.

Bonner scored 14 of her 18 points in the second half along with nine rebounds, four assists and three steals for Connecticut.

Briann January had the hot hand in the first half for the Sun. She scored 12 of her season-high 19 in that half and added three steals.

Brionna Jones had 15 points, eight rebounds and four steals, Jonquel Jones had eight points and 10 rebounds and Jasmine Thomas scored eight with six assists.

Las Vegas (17-7) began the day with a league-best field goal percentage of .471 and six players averaging double-figures in scoring.

The Aces shot 39.7% percent against Connecticut. They also gave up 26 points on 14 turnovers.

“Give credit to Connecticut,” Las Vegas head coach Bill Laimbeer said. “They’re big and long and strong. They use their length on us, and it bothered us a little bit.

“That’s three games in a row we played them (and) they got us playing their game instead of us playing our game. I give them credit for that. … We didn’t move the ball and push the ball. That’s who we are and I preached that for three days and we went out there and didn’t do it.”

Chelsea Gray had 15 points and four rebounds for the Aces and Liz Cambage had 13 points and six rebounds. Dearica Hamby scored 13 off the bench.

A’ja Wilson had a rare bad game offensively for Las Vegas. The reigning WNBA MVP missed 14 of 15 shots for four points with five rebounds. She began the day as the league’s fifth-leading scorer (19.4 ppg).

“You know the saying,” Bonner said. “Defense does what? (Win championships).”

It was a huge win for the Sun given the WNBA playoff format. The top two seeds, regardless of conference, earn a double-bye into the best-of-five semifinals.

The third and fourth seeds receive a bye into the single-elimination second round. The fifth-through-eighth seeds play in a single-elimination first-round game.

The Sun led the majority of the game. January’s 3 tied the game at 22 with 6 minutes, 36 seconds left in the first half.

Brionna Jones followed with a 16-foot bank shot to put her team ahead to stay 24-22 with 5:56 remaining in the half.

Connecticut used the long ball late in the game to pull away with a 9-3 run. Bonner, Charles and Thomas each made one to push the Sun ahead 72-58 with 3:25 remaining.

Bonner also had two huge blocks down low on Wilson during Connecticut’s run.

“We didn’t celebrate (clinching a playoff berth),” Bonner said. “This game is over with. We’ve got to move on to the next one.

“Championship teams play teams the same way every single game no matter who they are. That’s what we’re building toward; we’re trying to become a championship team.”

Etess, Heussler honored

Former Sun mainstays Mitchell Etess and Bob Heussler were honored by the Sun at halftime.

Etess was the former Mohegan Gaming and Entertainment executive who was instrumental in bringing the Sun from Orlando to Connecticut in 2003.

Heussler was the longtime Sun play-by-play man. He was the franchise’s first voice when it began in 2003 and held that role until 2019. He’s called Fairfield men’s basketball games for 32 seasons and occasionally does radio work for the Brooklyn Nets.

News and notes

WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert attended the game as part of her tour around the league. ... Connecticut will hold Family Fun Night when it plays host to the Los Angeles Sparks on Thursday (7). It’s the first meeting between the two this season.

n.griffen@theday.com