The Connecticut Sun gave themselves a chance to overcome another late deficit for a playoff win on Sunday afternoon.

They shrank a late seven-point deficit to three against the top-seeded Las Vegas Aces and had the ball with a chance to tie in the closing seconds.

The Aces prevented Connecticut from creating any late magic. They refused to allow Sun forward DeWanna Bonner to get a good look at the basket, she was forced to put up an off-balance three that missed, and Vegas held on for 67-64 win before 10,135 at Michelob ULTRA Arena.

It was the first time this season that Las Vegas had been held under 70 points in a game. The Aces averaged a league-high 90.4 during the regular season.

It was the second-fewest points Connecticut scored in a game this season, shooting just 37.8% from the floor.

“(I’m) certainly disappointed for our locker room with the loss,” Sun head coach Curt Miller said, “knowing that we did so much that we wanted to accomplish defensively and got the game, the style of play, that we were hoping for.”

Game 2 of the best-of-five series is Tuesday at the same venue (9 p.m., ESPN).

Connecticut got to the finals after rallying from a nine-point deficit with 3:46 remaining in Game 5 of its semifinal series against the defending world champion Chicago Sky on Thursday. The Sun closed with an 18-0 run, the largest run to end a playoff game in league history to stun the Sky.

Flash forward to Sunday when Connecticut trailed by seven points with 1:26 left.

Connecticut’s Alyssa Thomas made two steals on three straight Aces possessions and turned them into layups to pull the Sun within 67-64 with 34.2 seconds left.

Thomas guarded Chelsea Gray on Las Vegas’ next possession, forcing Gray to take a 28-foot shot that was blocked and landed in the hands of Sun guard Natisha Hiedeman with 13.4 seconds remaining.

The Sun called timeout to set up a play but were stymied by the Aces.

“We gave ourselves a good opportunity to come out of there with a win and it just didn’t go our way,” Connecticut’s Jonquel Jones said. “But we are excited about Game 2.”

A’ja Wilson, who earned her second WNBA MVP honor in four years this season, had a game-high 24 points with 11 rebounds.

Wilson scored 12 of her points on 14 free throw attempts. She had nine more attempts than Connecticut had as a team.

“Unfortunately the big stat line difference tonight in a lot of areas was (Las Vegas’) ability to get to the foul line and play through contact,” Miller said, “and we struggled to get to the foul line and (get in) any kind of offensive rhythm there in the second half, and that’s a credit to their defense.”

Gray scored 21 points and Jackie Young 11 for the Aces.

Thomas led the Sun with 19 points, 11 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 steals and 3 blocks.

Jones had 15 points and 9 rebounds, Brionna Jones scored 12 and Hiedeman had 10 points and 4 rebounds for Connecticut.

The Sun absorbed an early blitz by Las Vegas after it went ahead, 21-9, with 4:05 remaining in the first quarter.

Connecticut weathered the Aces’ flurry and transformed the game from the fast-paced, high-scoring style to a defensive grind it prefers.

Thomas found Jonquel Jones’ by the rim for an alley oop layup at the buzzer to give the Sun a 38-34 halftime lead.

Las Vegas, after shooting 56.2% in the first quarter, made just 3 of 15 shots (20%) in the second.

Asked what Aces head coach Becky Hammon said at the half, Gray said, “It was lit. We have children watching. She was just on us to play our style defensively. Offensively, we were letting them get offensive rebounds, early scores, turning over the ball. ... That’s the edited version.”

Wilson made a 7-foot pull-up jumper to put the Aces ahead to stay, 55-53, with 39.9 seconds left in the third.

Las Vegas also switched to a zone defense when Connecticut went to a big lineup, resulting in gridlock inside and forcing the Sun to make outside shots.

The Sun shot just 27.8% in the fourth quarter.

“They were hitting some tough shots,” Brionna Jones said. “They were getting to the free throw line. On the other end, we weren’t attacking the basket as much as we were in the first half and we didn’t get to the free throw line as much as we wanted to.

“It was just a battle of getting to the basket.”

n.griffen@theday.com