Mohegan — The end of the Connecticut Sun’s 2022 season looked like this early Sunday evening:

Riquna Williams knocking down three straight shots for the Las Vegas Aces, including a go-ahead three with 1 minute, 39 seconds left in Game 4 of the WNBA Finals.

The Sun walking single file dejected off the floor.

The Aces hoisting the WNBA championship on the Mohegan Sun Arena floor, the first time that happened in Connecticut franchise history.

Finals MVP Chelsea Gray had 20 points, 6 assists and 5 rebounds as the top-seeded Aces beat the Sun, 78-71, to win their first world championship before 9,652 fans.

Third-seeded Connecticut has lost all four times it’s been to the Finals, tying the New York Liberty for the most Finals losses.

Another empty feeling.

“I’m trying to process this right now,” Sun Jonquel Jones said. “All I know is that I hurt. That’s all.”

WNBA MVP A’ja Wilson had 11 points and 14 rebounds for the Aces and Williams scored 17 off the bench.

Kelsey Plum added 15 points and Jackie Young had 13 points and 8 assists.

It’s Las Vegas’ first professional championship.

“This is amazing,” Wilson said. “This moment right here, this year right here is something I'm never going to forget and this is not going to be the (last).”

Alyssa Thomas had 11 points, 11 assists and 10 rebounds for the Sun and Courtney Williams had 17 points and 6 rebounds.

Jonquel Jones added 13 points and 8 rebounds, DeWanna Bonner had 12 points and 8 rebounds and Brionna Jones scored 11 for Connecticut.

“Unfortunately, it didn’t go the way we wanted it to,” Thomas said. “We had fun. We played our basketball and we stuck together all year.

“Like I said it, just didn't go the way we wanted to.”

The Sun played from behind the majority of the game but Brionna Jones made two free throws to put them ahead, 71-70, with 1:50 left in the game.

Williams got open for a split second moments later and knocked down the go-ahead three. She followed with a 20-foot step-back jumper on Las Vegas’ next possession with 53.2 seconds remaining.

“You don’t get the name ‘Bae Buckets’ for nothing,” Aces head coach Becky Hammon said about Williams. “She knows she's got the ultimate green light (to shoot). It just happened to be who was on her and I wanted to run her into it because I knew she would eventually be the one that got open.”

Connecticut missed its final six shots and turned it over on an inbounds play, too.

“It was a grind out there,” Sun head coach Curt Miller said. “We put ourselves in position to win and it became a chess match down the stretch with our big lineup versus their small lineup, and they finished on an 8-0 run.”

Connecticut acknowledged during the season that its chance to win a WNBA title with this group was running out. The likes of Brionna Jones, this year’s Sixth Woman of the Year, Natisha Hiedeman and Williams are all unrestricted free agents and the Sun won’t have the salary cap room to keep everyone together.

“When we got here (in 2016) there was three consecutive years of no playoffs,” Miller said. “We were charged with trying to rebuild something and we have had a remarkable sustained run since 2016 of anyone in the league. We’re one game behind (for) the most regular wins (over that time) so (to) sustain (that) success is really special.”

“But in pro sports, you want banners and we’re going to keep grinding and grinding until we can try to hang a banner.”

n.griffen@theday.com