Alyssa Thomas made Connecticut Sun franchise history Friday, recording their first triple-double against the Minnesota Lynx. She finished the history-making night with 15 points, 12 assists and 10 rebounds.
Thomas discussed whether or not she was aware of approaching the triple-double as the game drew to an end.
“They told me I needed three more rebounds, and I started trying to go after it and get it. Then they told me they needed to pull me,” Thomas said, as seen on NESN+ postgame coverage. “After pushing that hard, I was like, ‘Nah, I gotta get this one tonight, so I’m gonna stay in here and try to get it.'”
Thomas was just one rebound away for the last few minutes of the game, which felt like an eternity for her trying to bring down the much-needed board.
“Everything was going in for them. Every time I thought I was gonna get that last one it rolled in,” Thomas said. “We were trying on the offensive and defensive end. My teammates were all on board and allowed me to get those last couple rebounds.”
The nine-year veteran also reflected on recovering from her torn achilles injury and getting back to the level she is currently at.
“It was a long road to recovery. My teammates, my family, DB (DeWanna Bonner), all of them supported me the whole entire way and really pushed me,” the 6-foot-2 forward said. “It feels good to be back being out there with my team. Now we’re just trying to get after that championship.”
Thomas expressed what getting her first and the Sun’s first WNBA triple-double meant to her. She had a quadruple-double overseas and triple-doubles in college at Maryland, but noted how meaningful her performance on the night was.
“It’s huge,” Thomas said. “The greatest players in the world play in this league and to leave your mark like that, I think this one is probably the most special to me.”
Sun head coach Curt Miller also discussed Thomas’ success in a postgame interview.
“There’s a comfort as a coach that you know how hard she’s gonna lead by example and play. … Certainly people feed off that,” Miller added, per team-provided video. “We’ve been around 20 years, so first in franchise history, it just says what an effort it was by her tonight.
“Since 2017, we’ve won the most regular season games in the league, and she’s a big part of that and has been a staple of our franchise and a face of our franchise. … It’s fitting through all the perseverance that she’s the one to record the first triple-double.”
Thomas has high hopes for the Sun as the end of the season and the playoffs near. Besides the franchise-first effort put forward by Thomas tonight, the Sun are still searching for their first WNBA Championship title in their 20th year of existence.
