Freeman Coliseum – San Antonio Stars head coach Dan Hughes said he wanted to see his team play to their potential despite not making the playoffs. He got that on Friday night.
Kayla McBride scored 17 points, but it was not enough as the Stars fell 73-72 to the Connecticut Sun in front of 4,359 fans at the Freeman Coliseum. McBride missed a three point attempt as time expired.
Danielle Adams added 12 points and Alex Montgomery chipped in 11 for San Antonio, who lost their eighth straight game.
“I thought we played a fairly consistent game,” Stars head coach Dan Hughes said. “What we did not do is make a couple of plays at the end of the game to get it done. We needed to get a stop on that last play. We did get a score down at the one end. It’s just been a type of season where we are trying to just get consistency.”
The game was Sophia Young-Malcolm’s first at home since announcing her retirement at the end of the season. The 31-year-old holds the franchise’s scoring record.
“Sophia has had an incredible career,” Hughes said. “She came in at a time where she has been able to come in and watch the growth of the Stars through her initial years, for 10 years now. And be a part of a very consistent playoff team.”
Connecticut was led by Kelsey Bone’s 17 points, including the game-winning lay in with 1.8 seconds left. Chelsea Gray added 14 points and Jasmine Thomas chipped in 10 for Connecticut (14-18), who snapped their losing streak.
“It was a play that Anne (Donovan) had called early in the game that I kind of messed up a little bit on,” Bone said of her game-winner. “We ran it again, and she told me ‘score a bucket or get to the free throw line.’ So I saw the defense bite a little bit on the handoff from the guard, and I just saw a passage and I went.”
The Stars are now 7-24 on the season and will return to the court tomorrow night when they welcome the Phoenix Mercury to the Freeman Coliseum for their home finale at 7 p.m.
