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Aug 16, 2010 - 4:01 PM By MATT BEARDMORE STATS Writer

Tulsa (5-26) at Connecticut (15-16), 7:30 p.m. EDT

The Connecticut Sun were in the thick of the Eastern Conference playoff race a month ago. They're officially out now.

Playing for the first time since they were eliminated from postseason contention, the Sun close out their home schedule when they face the league-worst Tulsa Shock on Tuesday night.

A 96-80 victory over Atlanta on July 17 left the Sun one game behind the Dream and Washington for first place in the East. Connecticut, though, has lost eight of 11 since and will miss the postseason for the second straight year.

The Sun (15-16) were officially eliminated with Sunday's 79-66 home loss to conference-leading Indiana. Connecticut led 62-59 with 6:05 left but was outscored 20-4 the rest of the way.

"This was the perfect example of the difference between two teams in their stages of maturity," coach Mike Thibault said.

Although the Sun are disappointed there's just three games left in their season, No. 1 overall pick Tina Charles has been a bright spot for the club.

The favorite for rookie of the year honors, Charles is averaging 15.6 points and a league-best 11.9 rebounds. She had 18 points and 13 boards Sunday to set the league's single-season rebounding record with 368 while posting a WNBA-record 20th double-double.

"It's definitely bittersweet," said Charles, who had 16 points and 12 rebounds in a 101-89 victory at Tulsa on June 29. "We lost and we're not in the playoffs."

The Shock (5-26), who have lost 23 of 25 and have clinched the worst record in franchise history, have long been out of the playoff race. Since an 84-75 victory over league-best Seattle on Aug. 3, Tulsa has dropped four straight.

After getting beat by an average of 33.0 points in their previous two games, the Shock fell to visiting Los Angeles 92-87 on Saturday despite Ivory Latta's 26 points and Tiffany Jackson's 11 points and 13 rebounds.

"To me, the warrior of the game was Tiffany Jackson," coach Nolan Richardson said. "She is what we got to have. She guarded people, she rebounded, she was the spark-plug of what brought us back and gave us a chance."

Scholanda Robinson led Tulsa with 19 points in June's meeting with the Sun.

Connecticut will try to win the season series against the Shock franchise for the first time since 2004.