The Connecticut Sun had just forced the Dallas Wings into making their 15th turnover of Wednesday night’s WNBA first-round playoff game and the Sun’s DeWanna Bonner responded by walking in the other direction, yelling and nodding her head in approval.

Connecticut shot poorly against the Wings in the decisive Game 3. It struggled at the free throw line, too.

Did the Sun ever rebound and defend, though. They beat Dallas in the statistical categories that required grit and fire and snuffed it out in the second half of their 73-58 win before 5,016 at the College Park Center and advanced to their fourth straight semifinal.

“We felt like we didn’t play with that same intensity in Game 2,” Bonner said, referencing Sunday’s 89-79 home loss.

“We owed it to ourselves to come out here and at least (play) a little bit harder and whatever happens happens. It’s kind of what mentality we had. … That’s just the character of Connecticut Sun basketball.”

The score was tied 34-all at the half despite third-seeded Connecticut being outshot, 50%-to-32.4%.

The Sun held sixth-seeded Dallas to six field goals in the second half with a 22.2% field goal percentage.

“This is what we’re used to doing, playing defense like that,” Connecticut’s Alyssa Thomas said. “I think we were all disappointed in how we played in Game 2.

“We’re an experienced team. We’ve been here before. It was time for us to impose ourselves.”

The Sun were not pleased with themselves after Sunday’s home loss. They missed 9 of their first 10 shots, fell behind 22-7 after one quarter and trailed by as much as 31 points (82-51) with 8 minutes, 1 seconds remaining in the game.

Connecticut was equally bothered that it was beaten inside, one of its key strengths. It led the league in both offensive and total rebounds during the regular season.

The Wings beat them in Game 2 in offensive rebounds (13-10), total rebounds (35-32) and, most importantly, second chance points (23-11).

The Sun beat Dallas in all three categories on Wednesday night. They had a 17-7 edge in offensive boards, 40-31 in total boards and a resounding 20-4 advantage in second chance points.

“Our players played with so much energy and effort tonight,” Connecticut head coach Curt Miller said. “We didn’t play perfect. We missed a lot of points out there (the Sun shot 35.5%), foul shots (15-23), a lot of shots in the first half but it never wavered, our energy and effort. We hung our hat for the last few years on defense and our defense, holding a team with that many weapons, to 58 points in their home building, it’s just remarkable how hard we played.

“We asked them to get in the paint. We asked them to win the points-in-the-paint battle (42-24). We asked them to win the points-off-turnovers battle (20-6). We asked them to win the fast break battle (14-5). And we won all those areas tonight that were so important.”

Connecticut will play at the second-seeded and defending champion Chicago Sky on Sunday night (8, Wintrust Arena, ESPN2).

Chicago swept its four-game series with the Sun during the regular season. It also eliminated them in last season’s semifinals.

“This group wants to take another step (win an elusive WNBA title),” Miller said, “and there’s not one person that’s going to pick us to beat Chicago. So were going to go with the underdog mentality and give it our best shot.”

Bonner had 21 points, five rebounds and five assists for Connecticut and Jonquel Jones had 11 points and 10 rebounds.

Thomas added 13 points and eight rebounds for the Sun and Natisha Hiedeman scored 11.

Connecticut also got a strong defensive effort off the bench from DiJonai Carrington, who played 25 minutes.

“(All) the credit in this game actually goes to DiJonai Carrington,” Bonner said. “I think she was the difference-maker for us this whole game. Her defensive pressure was unbelievable. She kind of jump-started us.”

Marina Mabrey scored 20 for Dallas and Veronica Burton had 10 points, six rebounds and four assists.

Teaira McCowan, the Wings’ 6-foot-7 post, made just 2 of 6 field goals for 8 points with 12 rebounds. She shot 8 of 13 for 17 points in her team’s win Sunday.

Dallas had listed leading scorer Arike Ogunbowale as probable on Tuesday’s injury report after she missed the previous six games following abdominal surgery on Aug. 9. She played just 7 minutes in Wednesday’s game and didn’t score.

The Wings also lost starting post Isabelle Harrison to a right ankle injury with over nine minutes left in the first half.

The Sun couldn’t get their offense in gear during the first half but stayed in the game thanks to rebounding. It had a 23-15 edge that half and, perhaps more importantly, a 9-0 advantage in offensive boards. That allowed them to almost play keep away with Brionna Jones leading the way with five offensive rebounds.

Bonner knocked down a 27-foot jumper with 2.1 seconds remaining in the half to tie the game at 34.

Hiedeman made a 12-foot floater to start an 11-2 run with over 7 minutes left in the third quarter. She later made a three and Thomas’ layup gave Connecticut a 49-40 lead with 4:22 remaining in the quarter.

Jonquel Jones’ layup with seconds left in the quarter pushed the Sun ahead, 46-57.

Odyssey Sims’ steal and layup gave Connecticut its largest lead, 65-46, with 7:19 left in the game.

Dallas shot 2-of-12 in the fourth quarter.

“(There) was no pressure coming into an elimination game,” Thomas said. “We knew if we played our game that we would come out with a win.”

n.griffen@theday.com