Mohegan — A common refrain from the Connecticut Sun this season, win or lose, has been that they didn’t believe they have started games strong.

That was not the case Tuesday night.

Connecticut went all shock-and-awe to start Game 4 its WNBA semifinal series against the defending champion Chicago Sky, forcing the Sky to call a timeout less than 3 minutes into the game and leading by as many as 16 points less than six minutes in.

The third-seeded Sun gave second-seeded Chicago its worst beating of the season, 104-80, and tied the best-of-five series before 5,868 at Mohegan Sun Arena.

It was the largest margin of victory in WNBA playoff history that forced a Game 5.

Game 5 is Thursday at Wintrust Arena (8 p.m., ESPN2).

Going back to Chicago.

“We put an emphasis on the first quarter,” Connecticut’s Courtney Williams said. “I’m not even being funny. For real, that’s something that we actually talked about. We said this series and a lot of our games have been told by what the first quarter looked like.

“We made a concerted effort to come out strong in the first quarter.”

Alyssa Thomas led the way for the Sun with 17 points, 8 rebounds and 4 assists. She had as many points as the entire Sky team had with her team ahead 24-9 with 3 minutes, 58 seconds remaining in the first quarter.

“AT always sets the tone, right?,” Williams said. “She’s somebody that we know that we can always lean on to bring that effort, that consistency, every night.

“She’s always going to be huge for us. She’s Miss Connecticut.”

The Sun had five other players score in double figures. DeWanna Bonner had 19 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists and 4 steals, Williams had 19 points and 4 rebounds and Brionna Jones had 11 points and 6 rebounds.

DiJonai Carrington added 12 points and 3 steals for Connecticut and Odyssey Sims scored 10.

Chicago’s Candace Parker had flustered the Sun through three games shooting 46.5% averaging 19 points.

Parker shot 3 of 9 for 11 points in Game 4 and added 9 rebounds and 4 assists. Kahleah Copper scored a team-high 16 for the Sky.

Sun head coach Curt Miller has talked a lot during the series that their best chance at winning was to make games “messy” defensively.

That didn’t happen in Game 3 on Sunday as Chicago won a defensive struggle tailor-made for the Sun, 76-72. Connecticut shot 36.8% in the loss.

The Sun flipped the script in Game 4 as they beat one of the league’s best offensive teams at their own game. They outshot Chicago, 56.9% to 47.6%, and had a slight edge in fast break points (11-9).

“I guess so much for messy,” Miller said. “That wasn’t messy.”

Connecticut attacked swiftly. Jonquel Jones made a three and Thomas added a three-point play as the Sun took a 12-2 lead just 2:41 into the game, forcing the Sky to call a quick timeout.

“I thought we couldn’t match what they gave early on and they put us on our heels,” Chicago head coach James Wade said. “They put us on our heels so we were playing catch-up. And they kind of scattered us a little bit.”

Connecticut led 30-22 after one quarter.

It was just getting warmed up.

There were seconds left in the first half when Carrington intercepted a pass out of the post by Parker. She raced down the other end and put up a layup just before the buzzer to give the Sun a 58-41 lead, setting off a team celebration underneath the basket.

Connecticut’s 58 points tied a team-high for most in a half this year.

The Sun ended the third in nearly as exciting fashion as they did at the half. Bonner hit a three with 2.6 seconds left and then Sims stole a pass and made a runner to give the Sun their largest lead to that point, 83-61, to whip the crowd into another frenzy.

Chicago went on a late run and managed to cut its deficit to 93-77 with 4:34 remaining, but Bonner dropped a three out of a timeout to end whatever chance the Sky had at a wild rally.

“All the credit to the players, how determined they were,” Miller said. “We felt deflated after Game 3 that we did so well defensively and couldn’t get to the finish line. So just incredible heart and determination by our players to do what they’re capable of.”

n.griffen@theday.com