The Washington Mystics were once again shorthanded up front as starters Tina Charles and Elena Delle Donne both missed Tuesday night’s game with injuries.

Connecticut Sun posts Brionna and Jonquel Jones took great advantage of the situation.

The Jones combined for 53 points and 24 rebounds as the Sun used a big third-quarter run to win their season-high ninth straight game, 85-75, before 2,269 at the Entertainment and Sports Arena.

“With TP (Theresa Plaisance) on the injury report, not at 100-percent, Tina out and Elena out, obviously some of their size and rim protection was gone,” Connecticut head coach Curt Miller said.

“(I have) great respect for the motors of Myisha Hines-Allen and certainly (Erica) McCall, but I thought we had the advantage in the paint. (Washington's injuries) magnified it. So there was a real emphasis and dedication by our guards to not rush things and be patient and really try to establish the paint.”

Jonquel Jones scored 21 of her 31 points in the first half and finished with 14 rebounds and three blocks for the league-leading Sun (21-6). Brionna Jones had 22 points and 10 rebounds and Jasmine Thomas added six assists. The two became the first teammates in WNBA history to each have 20-or-more points, 10-or-more rebounds and shoot 70-percent in the same game, according to acrossthetimeline.com.

"It's been a concerted effort the entire season (to score inside)," Jonquel Jones said. "Before we play any game, Curt comes in (the locker room) and talks about getting me, Breezy and DB (DeWanna Bonner) the ball and trying to put an emphasis on playing through us. And so we always want to step up and be ready to play.

"It was one of those nights where we just knew based on their size that we can dominate the entire night and that's where we had our mindset. That's what our mindset was going into the game and I'm glad we made some history. (That's a) crazy stat."

Connecticut outrebounded the Mystics, 38-20. That included 16 offensive rebounds for the Sun. They also had a 46-24 edge in points-in-the-paint.

Myisha Hines-Allen had 16 points, five rebounds, five assists and four steals, Shatori Walker-Kimbrough had 17 points and Ariel Atkins scored 16 for Washington (10-16). Natasha Cloud added 12 assists.

Charles was out with a left gluteal strain and Delle Donne sat out due to her back. The former has played at an MVP level, averaging a league-high 25.4 points with 9.7 rebounds.

Connecticut has a two-game lead over the second-place Las Vegas Aces (19-7) and owns the head-to-head tiebreaker. It has five games left in the regular season.

The Sun have a three-game lead over the third-place Seattle Storm (18-10). The latter holds the head-to-head tiebreaker.

The top league’s top two teams, regardless of conference, earn a double-bye to the best-of-five semifinals.

The third and fourth seeds get a bye to the single-elimination second round.

The fifth-through-eighth seeds play in the single-elimination first round.

Bonner’s three started Connecticut’s 17-5 run with 5 minutes, 4 seconds left in the third quarter.

Briann January made successive threes, Brionna Jones added two layups and Thomas a driving layup to push the Sun's lead to 72-51 with 1:06 left in the quarter.

Hines-Allen made a 13-foot jumper late in the period.

Brionna Jones ended the quarter with another layup to give Connecticut a 74-53 edge.

Jonquel Jones’ putback gave the Sun their largest lead, 78-56, with 8:19 remaining in the game.

Tuesday was Connecticut’s fourth game in seven days. It doesn’t play again until Sept. 7 when it starts a three-game road trip at the Dallas Wings.

“Sleep, that’s the priority,” Miller said. “We’ll take a few days off and get to work on Friday.

“Every game feels like a playoff game for us because we know how important the double-bye is. We know how important home-court advantage for Washington in the (2019 WNBA Finals) was.”

n.griffen@theday.com