WNBA playoffs: Jasmine Thomas leads Sun past Aces; Storm-Lynx postponed

Jasmine Thomas had a career-high 31 points, Alyssa Thomas scored 18, and the Connecticut Sun pulled away early and cruised to an 87-62 win over the Las Vegas Aces in Game of 1 of the best-of-five WNBA semifinals Sunday.

Alyssa Thomas had six rebounds, five assists, five steals and two blocks. Natisha Hiedeman made four of four from three-point range and finished with 14 points for Connecticut.

The seventh-seeded Sun lost their first five games, and six of seven, but rebounded to make the playoffs. They beat No. 6 seed Chicago and third-seeded Los Angeles in the first two rounds of the postseason.

A’ja Wilson led top-seeded Las Vegas with 19 points, and Jackie Young scored 16.

Beatrice Mompremier made a layup to make it 12-10 and the Sun led the rest of the way. A three-pointer by Jasmine Thomas gave Connecticut a 13-point lead with 1:28 left in the first half, and the Aces trailed by double figures the rest of the way. She made a layup with 6:30 to go in the third quarter give her 29 points.

Game 2 is scheduled for Tuesday night.

The WNBA announced earlier Sunday that Las Vegas’ Dearica Hamby won the sixth woman of the year award and Aces general manager Dan Padover was given the executive of the year award.

WNBA postpones game between Storm and Lynx due to COVID-19

About 90 minutes before the scheduled tipoff, the opener of the WNBA playoff series between the Seattle Storm and the Minnesota Lynx was postponed because of inconclusive COVID-19 test results for some Storm players.

The players with inconclusive results have undergone additional testing and are in isolation, according to the WNBA.

The Lynx already had arrived at the arena, and some of the players had been warming up when they were told the game was postponed.

The league didn’t immediately announce when Game 1 of the best-of-five series would be played. Game 2 was scheduled for Tuesday night.

The WNBA made it through the regular season with a few false positive tests for COVID-19, but no players developed the illness once the season started. The season is being played inside a bubble environment at IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla.

Everyone inside the bubble has been tested for the virus every day.