The Connecticut Sun have needed all nine of their available players to each do just a little bit more this week with reigning WNBA MVP Jonquel Jones in health and safety protocols.

It was perhaps, fitting, then, that Connecticut got an extra boost Friday night from the player it refers to as its “engine.”

Alyssa Thomas had 15 points, 12 assists and 10 rebounds for the first triple-double in the Sun’s 20-year history in an 94-84 win over the Minnesota Lynx before 8,321 at Target Center.

Thomas is just the 11th player to record a triple-double in the 26-year history of the WNBA. She fell just a assist short of tying Lindsay Whalen’s single-game franchise record set on June 27, 2004 against the Detroit Shock.

Thomas also added three steals

“A lot of great players have played in this league,” Thomas said. “It’s not easy to do it at this level, and so to get this tonight definitely means a lot.”

The teams play again on Sunday at the same site (7 p.m., NESN).

“You know the competitor (she is),” Connecticut head coach Curt Miller said about Thomas. “You know how she’s going to compete each-and-every day. There’s a comfort as a coach that you know how hard she’s going to lead by example and play and just will other people, and certainly people feed off of that.

“First (triple-double) in franchise history. It just says what an effort it was for her tonight.”

DeWanna Bonner had 20 points and four rebounds, Courtney Williams had 15 points and Brionna Jones scored 11 for Connecticut.

Bria Hartley, who signed with the Sun on Monday, added three 3-pointers for 11 points in just her second game with the team.

Jonquel Jones was listed as probable on the Sun’s injury report Thursday and traveled with them to Minnesota. They announced after noon Friday that she was out.

“Just really proud of our fight on the road with the late scratch for JJ,” Miller said. “(We had) only nine in uniform for the fifth time this year. … Just a real important win and a team effort through-and-through. And I have to shout out (to) Bria Hartley. (She) really sparked us with (11 points) off the bench.”

Aerial Powers scored 14 for the Lynx (10-18) and Sylvia Fowles, Kayla McBride and Nikolina Milic all scored 12.

Connecticut had a terrific night offensively shooting 55.2%. It also made 10 of 21 threes (47.6%) with 27 assists on 37 made field goals.

The Sun weren’t able to stop Minnesota from making shots (it made 54.8%), though. They did, however, have nine steals and turned 17 Minnesota turnovers into 22 points.

Connecticut turned it over nine times.

“We just really concentrated on trying to be active with our hands and try to be disruptive at times within their sets with ball pressure, and I thought we did a good job with that,” Miller said. “We’ll go back (and watch film) and be disappointed that they shot such a high percentage, but we did a lot of really good things to disrupt them.”

The Sun never trailed and led by as much as 22 points (89-67) with 6 minutes, 24 seconds left in the game.

Thomas had 15 points and 11 assists after three quarters and Miller kept her in as long as she needed to get a triple-double.

Thomas got her ninth rebound with 4:48 remaining. She got stuck at nine as Minnesota scored on its next five possessions.

The Sun bench anxiously waited for Thomas to get her 10th and reacted with disappointment every time the Lynx hit a shot.

Williams nearly leapt from her seat when the second of Milic’s two free throws looked like it might roll out with over a minute left. The ball dropped through the net, however, causing Williams to cover her face with a towel.

Thomas finally got rebound No. 10 with 16.4 seconds left, prompting Miller to call timeout as the team celebrated.

“My teammates told me (when) I needed like three more,” Thomas said. “It was a team effort for me to get this tonight.”

n.griffen@theday.com