Mohegan — Two days ago, Connecticut Sun head coach Stephanie White sat in the press room and looked at the stat sheet, the first time she was aware that the Sun’s Alyssa Thomas had recorded a triple-double.

On Tuesday, Thomas’s triple-double snuck up on exactly no one, a commanding performance, 21 points, 20 rebounds and 12 assists, that made WNBA history on several fronts in Connecticut’s 79-69 victory over the Minnesota Lynx.

It was Thomas’s second straight triple-double and her record-setting ninth all-time, all in the last two seasons. She was the first WNBA player ever to record a stat line of 20-20-10 and her triple-double came with 1 minute, 32 seconds still remaining in the third quarter, the quickest triple-double in league history.

“You look at AT’s stat line and it’s just there are some times players that do things that you’re really just speechless,” White said of Thomas. “Spectacular moment that we all witnessed here tonight and just really, really incredible effort by her.

“You could take it for granted, so I hope that everybody that’s in the building every time that she does it doesn’t take it for granted. I mean, nine triple-doubles, are you kidding me? And she’s still got so far to go. I hope that we never do take it for granted and always continue to be awed at the numbers that she’s able to put up.”

Thomas, aptly nicknamed “The Engine,” played all 40 minutes as the Sun outlasted the Lynx before 4,894 at Mohegan Sun Arena, avenging Sunday’s 87-83 defeat in which Minnesota shot 63.3% in the first half.

Ty Harris came off the bench to play 27 minutes for the Sun (19-7) on Tuesday, adding 17 points and four assists. Tiffany Hayes had 16 points and DeWanna Bonner 15.

Lindsay Allen finished with 16 points for Minnesota (13-14), Kayla McBride had 15 and rookie Dorka Juhasz, a UConn grad, grabbed 11 rebounds.

The Sun led 37-30 at halftime, as Harris had 11 points on 5-for-7 shooting. In her first season with the Sun, Harris scored Connecticut’s final three baskets of the half, engineering a steal and taking it to the basket to give the Sun a 33-26 edge at the 2:43 mark.

Following a 3-pointer by Minnesota’s Tiffany Mitchell, Harris hit a jump shot. Mitchell then hit one foul shot for the Lynx before Harris scored again on a drive to give the Sun the seven-point advantage going to the locker room.

The third quarter brought a 60-52 Sun lead and cemented Thomas’s triple-double.

Minnesota pulled within four at 47-43 on a jump shot by McBride, when Hayes answered with a 3-pointer and Thomas followed by grabbing a defensive rebound and going end to end for the layup for a 52-43 lead. That prompted a Lynx timeout.

At that juncture, Thomas, the 6-foot-2 forward in her 10th season out of Maryland and a four-time All-Star, had 11 points, 13 rebounds and eight assists needing just two assists for the triple-double.

She got her ninth on a handoff to Hayes which made it 54-45 and got No. 10 moments later when she gained possession on a jump ball and chucked it the length of the court to Harris for a layup.

That gave the Sun their first double-digit lead of the game at 58-48.

Finishing the game without ever having come off the floor, Thomas served as a playmaker until the final buzzer, assisting Olivia Nelson-Ododa with 17 seconds remaining and securing her final rebound with 2.1 seconds to play.

Harris was asked what she saw on the long pass from Thomas.

“It’s what she sees; she sees it all,” Harris said. “All I know is to just run the floor and she’ll find me. It’s amazing what she does, her triple-doubles, the amount of minutes she plays and just how hard she plays.”

“A lot of credit goes to my teammates,” Thomas said. “I say this every time, but without them making the shots, I really can’t get triple-doubles. ... Last game I missed a lot of shots. I was mad at myself for that. Today I really focused on getting to the hoop and finishing through contact.”

The 6-foot-10 Bernadett Hatar, a recent signee, has yet to play for the Sun, missing the last two games with a left knee injury. The Sun signed the Hungarian Hatar for post help after losing starting center Brionna Jones to a season-ending Achilles injury on June 20.

The Sun next play Friday at Indiana, commencing a four-game road trip including stops in Seattle, Phoenix and Dallas. Connecticut plays seven of its final 10 games in the regular season at home.

v.fulkerson@theday.com