New York handed the Connecticut Sun their first loss of the season and has now won seven straight to move to the top of our WNBA Power Rankings.
Connecticut and New York have served notice to the rest of the WNBA’s Eastern Conference: It’s going to be a long summer.
The Sun opened the season with 10 straight wins before falling to the Liberty last week, 82-75. New York, with seven straight victories, now owns the league’s longest winning streak.
The Washington Mystics even got in on the act, picking up their first two wins of the season, a thorough defeat of the Atlanta Dream, 87-68 and a tight, 83-81 win over the Chicago Sky. On the flip side, the Dallas Wings are in a free fall, having lost six straight.
Here’s our look at the latest WNBA Power Rankings.
New York got 24 points from Sabrina Ionescu and 22 points and eight rebounds from Jonquel Jones to knock off Connecticut last week, 82-75. They followed that up with a five-point victory over Washington, running their win streak to seven.
The Sun responded well to their first loss of the season. Dijonai Carrington had a game-high 22 points in an 89-72 win over Indiana and Alyssa Thomas scored 20 to lead the Sun over the Sky. Thomas currently leads the WNBA in assists with 8.1 per game.
The Lynx had the most impressive week, defeating Seattle at home by 19 before going on the road and knocking off the Aces, 100-86, and finishing off the week with a five-point win over Los Angeles. Minnesota has won six of seven.
A 19-point loss at Minnesota ended the Storm’s six-game win streak, but Seattle started a new one with fairly easy wins over Los Angeles and Dallas. Nneka Ogwumike and Skylar Diggins-Smith each averaged more than 20 points in those two wins.
The Aces lost three in a row before knocking off the Phoenix Mercury Thursday night, 103-99. Las Vegas did not lose its fifth regular season game last year until August 26th. A’ja Wilson is still rolling along, leading the league in both scoring (28.6 ppg) and rebounding (11.7 rpg).
The Mercury split their results last week, defeating Dallas in double overtime before falling late to Las Vegas. Brittney Griner is making a triumphant return for Phoenix. She is averaging 20 points and 7.3 rebounds in her first three games back.
It was a rough close to the week for Atlanta. The Dream got 22 points and seven rebounds from Tina Charles in an 89-80 victory over Chicago before dropping games to the two Eastern Conference cellar dwellers, Washington and Indiana.
The Sparks' Dearica Hamby got 18 points and 10 rebounds in a 96-92 win over Las Vegas. Los Angeles followed that up with a 16-point loss at Seattle on Tuesday and a five-point defeat to the Western Conference leading Lynx on Friday night.
The Fever have won three of five. Aliyah Boston led the team in scoring in both of Indiana’s games this week, a loss at Connecticut and a win at home versus Atlanta. The second-year all-star is averaging 11.8 points and 7.4 rebounds.
Chicago has lost five of its last six games, including losses at home to both Atlanta and Connecticut and on the road at Washington this week. Angel Reese averaged more than 14 points for Chicago in the three games and she leads the Sky with 10 rebounds a contest.
With losses to Phoenix and Seattle this week, Dallas has now dropped six in a row and has fallen to the bottom of the Western Conference. Arike Ogunbowale averaged 24.5 points in the Wings’ two games this week. She leads the team and is second in the league with 26.2 points per game.
The Mystics got off the slide with a dominating win over Atlanta and a tight victory over Chicago. Their 12-game losing streak was one short of the club record. Brittney Sykes returned from missing 10 games due to a left ankle injury to lead Washington with 18 points in the win over Atlanta.