Mohegan — DeWanna Bonner was leaving home Thursday night to head to Mohegan Sun Arena when her daughter Cali, one of the Connecticut Sun forward’s 5-year-old twins, wished a little magic on her mom.

“Cali, she gave me some superpowers before I left,” Bonner said with a smile. “Literally, like, ‘Mom, here’s superpowers.’

“Man, I worked so hard for this one. I don’t think anybody outside that locker room knows how hard it’s been these first couple games. I was ready this game. That was fun. That was a lot of fun.”

Bonner, a 14-year WNBA veteran, scored a career-high and all-time franchise-best 41 points Thursday night, as the Sun served notice on the rest of the league with a 94-77 blitz of the defending champion and previously unbeaten Las Vegas Aces.

The ageless Bonner had 18 first-half points on 8-for-12 shooting, infusing Connecticut with a burst of energy all the way to an animated (more than usual) head coach Stephanie White.

The Sun (7-2) fell to the Aces 90-84 Tuesday in a reprisal of last season’s WNBA Finals, won over four games by Las Vegas. Vegas (7-1) led by as many as 19 in Tuesday’s game before reserve Bec Allen’s six 3-point field goals in the second half pulled Connecticut within three.

Bonner had just five points in that game on 2-for-9 shooting, what she referred to as the worst game of her career.

On Thursday, Bonner broke her previous career high of 38 while with the Phoenix Mercury and her career-best 34 with the Sun. The 35-year-old Bonner reached 41 on her fifth 3-pointer of the game with 2 minutes, 50 seconds to play, resulting in a standing ovation from the 5,147 fans at Mohegan Sun.

“She came out just locked in and had a little bounce in her step,” White said of Bonner. “She hit a couple early and boy, it just swelled from there.”

“They just kicked our (butts),” said Las Vegas head coach Becky Hammon, who called the way her team defended Bonner a disappointment. “She’s a pro. She’s got a lot of pride. She came out and kicked our (butt) pretty much single-handedly. You knew we weren’t going to just show up and win the game tonight. There’s zero chance of that.”

Brionna Jones added 12 points and nine rebounds for the Sun, Tiffany Hayes 11 points and five assists and Alyssa Thomas had nine points, eight rebounds and 12 assists.

Kelsey Plum led Las Vegas with 16 points. A’ja Wilson finished with 13 points, eclipsing the 3,000-point mark for her career with a shot early in the third quarter. Wilson, 26, becomes the fifth-youngest player in WNBA history to reach that milestone.

In a complete flip of Tuesday night’s script, in which the Sun trailed by 17 at the half, Connecticut led Thursday’s rematch 43-28 at halftime behind Bonner’s fire.

Bonner scored 14 in the first quarter on 6 of 7 shooting as the Sun took a 26-15 lead, capped by a free throw from DiJonai Carrington.

The Aces began the second quarter with six straight points, including a 3-pointer by Plum, prompting a timeout by White. But the Sun responded with a 10-0 run, including consecutive strikes by Bonner, and concluded with a jump shot from Jones.

Natisha Hiedeman finished the half with nine points, Jones eight and Thomas had eight assists and five rebounds.

Connecticut had 14 assists on 19 field goals in the first half and 28 assists on 37 field goals overall, finishing with 17 fast-break points and 40 points in the paint.

The Sun first led by 19 — matching their largest deficit from Tuesday night — on a fast-break layup from Thomas to Bonner at the 6:16 mark of the third quarter. Connecticut led 64-52 after three quarters before pushing the lead to as many as 23 on Bonner’s final 3-pointer.

Hammon removed all five of her starters in the third quarter and said she planned to leave them on the bench before they pleaded with her for re-entry.

Bonner was 16-for-23 shooting, 5-for-7 from 3-point range and 4 of 5 from the foul line, adding seven rebounds.

“She’s been around this league for a long time. She wants to win another championship,” White said of Bonner, who won two titles in Phoenix. “She understands what it takes. She has the respect of every person in our locker room. When she speaks, we listen. I appreciate she holds us all accountable in that way.”

The Sun next play at 4 p.m. Sunday at Atlanta while the Aces return home following their four-game road trip to meet the Chicago Sky, also Sunday.

v.fulkerson@theday.com