Sun Beats Shock to Advance

Lindsay Whalen scored 27 points, and Nykesha Sales grabbed a career-high 12 rebounds to lead the Connecticut Sun to a 75-67 victory over the Detroit Shock on Friday night and a sweep of their first-round Eastern Conference series.

Connecticut beat the best rebounding team in the league at its own game. The Sun finished the two-game sweep by outrebounding the Shock, 47-42, with a physical post game.

Deanna Nolan scored 23 points for the Shock. Detroit’s leading rebounders, Cheryl Ford and Ruth Riley, fouled out in the closing minutes.

Nolan scored 12 of her points in the last four minutes to help the Shock cut the lead to three with 2:19 left. That’s when the Sun’s post players came up big.

Margo Dydek, Connecticut’s 7-foot-2 center, blocked Kara Braxton’s shot and started a fastbreak. Taj McWilliams-Franklin finished it with a fadeaway jumper with 22 seconds left for a 72-67 lead.