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Jones, White lead Sun past Silver Stars, 72-64

Jul 18, 2009 - 3:04 AM SAN ANTONIO(AP) -- Asjha Jones scored 17 points, reserve Tan White added 15 and the Connecticut Sun beat the San Antonio Silver Stars 72-64 on Friday night.

Sandrine Gruda and Lindsay Whalen had 12 points each and Erin Phillips scored 10 for the Sun (7-6).

All-Star Becky Hammon scored 24 points and rookie Megan Frazee had 14 for the Silver Stars (6-7), who missed their fifth chance to get over .500.

After missing all four of her shots in the third quarter, Jones hit two key baskets after Hammon's layup cut the Sun's lead to 65-64 under the 2-minute mark.

"They can trap me in the post, but they can't really trap me in the perimeter, so I tried to get out more where I had a little more room to work," Jones said. "From there it was more one-on-one, and I got a couple of open looks."

Jones hit a bank shot from about 10 feet out and followed that with a 17-footer on the Sun's next trip down the floor to give Connecticut a 69-64 lead with 26 seconds left. Amber Holt added a pair of free throws with 12 seconds to go.

White had nine points in the fourth quarter, including 5 of 6 free throws. She finished 5 for 7 from the floor to go along with all the free throws she attempted in the fourth quarter.

"That's what's important on the road," White said. "You have to hit the clutch free throws. I thought our team did a good job of that. And (Jones) knocked down two big shots off what the defense gave her."

Connecticut opened the fourth quarter ahead by four but expanded the lead to a 56-49 when White hit 1 of 2 free throws with 6:27 remaining.

"Tan White gave us a big offensive lift off the bench," Connecticut coach Mike Thibault said. "We made a lot of big plays when we finally needed to. It's a great road win."

However, the Silver Stars hit three 3-pointers - two by Hammon - to pull to 63-62 with 2:20 to go.

"We didn't shoot well enough and we needed to come out more determined," Hammon said. "Connecticut just came out and made shots and played well tonight."

Connecticut beat San Antonio by 13 points in their first meeting this season on June 21. The Silver Stars were playing without Hammon, who was playing in the European championships, and fellow starter Vickie Johnson.

The Silver Stars lost starting center Ruth Riley due to a sprained left ankle late in the first half and she did not return.

The Sun were without Tamika Whitmore, who is expected to miss the next two weeks after undergoing arthroscopic surgery on her right knee.

"I thought the two teams went at it pretty good tonight," Silver Stars coach Dan Hughes said. "We didn't make the plays down the stretch, and Connecticut made a couple. They made it difficult to get our offense going."

The Sun opened the game with a 9-0 lead as San Antonio ended possessions with a double dribble, an air ball and a layup that was blocked.

The Silver Stars didn't score until 3:37 into the game on Johnson's jumper. She scored again on a layup the next trip down the floor, and by the end of the quarter San Antonio had taken a 16-15 lead as the Sun missed eight of 10 shots after building the nine-point lead.

Neither team shot better than 39 percent in the first half nor could build more than a three-point lead in the second quarter, and the game was tied at halftime. Johnson was 4 of 5 with eight points for San Antonio and Jones had nine points for the Sun on 4-of-7 shooting.

"The fact that we had one turnover in the second half was huge after having 11 in the first half," Thibault said.