With win over Connecticut, Aces bid adieu to cradle of women’s basketball

The players that have come from the program read like a who’s who amidst the pantheon of greatness in the sport, ranging from all-time greats such as Sue Bird, Diana Taurasi and Maya Moore to current stars such as Breanna Stewart and Paige Bueckers.

In 2003, the Mohegan Indian tribe brought professional women’s basketball to the state when they purchased the Orlando Miracle and rebranded them into the Connecticut Sun. In their over 20 years in the Constitution State, the Sun have made the postseason 15 out of 21 times, an impressive run despite never winning a championship.

However, when the Sun allowed their entire starting five to walk in 2025, the writing was on the wall. Sure enough, it was announced soon after that the Mohegan tribe looked to sell the team, with potential relocation being on the table. A sale to Boston Celtics minority owner Stephen Pagliuca in 2025 with plans to relocate the Sun to Beantown by 2027 fell through, but it felt like a matter of time until Connecticut was without a professional team again.

On Dec. 19, 2025, the hourglass officially flipped when Houston Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta reached an agreement to purchase the Sun and restore the Houston Comets, who were the WNBA’s inaugural champions in 1997 and served as the league’s first true dynasty with four straight titles (1997-2000).

Ironic how sports can work sometimes; the resurrection of one legend comes at the expense of another.

It seems fitting, then, that a Las Vegas Aces team featuring many of UConn’s greatest rivals was the first to bid a proper farewell to Connecticut from the WNBA.

On Friday, the Aces completed the second of two consecutive games in their final excursion to Uncasville, sweeping the Sun with a 101-94 victory.

A’ja Wilson put on a performance reminiscent of her days with South Carolina, putting up 45 points against the Sun. It made the four-time MVP the first player in WNBA history to reach the 40-point mark in five games.

“This building has been special to me for a while,” said Wilson during her postgame presser on Friday.

“I got my first WNBA point in this building. We won our first championship in this building. And now, we’re leaving here with something. But it has definitely been a lot of fun coming here. We make the most out of it. I think we get closer when we come to Mohegan, only because we just be together. It really brings us together. I’m going to miss this place.”

Other players with connections to Connecticut basketball, either at the collegiate and professional level, would also elevate the Aces to a victory.

Jackie Young, who was part of the Fighting Irish team that shocked the college basketball world by eliminating UConn in the Final Four in 2018 alongside Brianna Turner, was also able to make her mark, putting up 13 points, six rebounds and six assists. Chelsea Gray, who was drafted 11th overall by the Sun in 2014, put together a double-double with 12 points and 10 assists, as well as seven rebounds.

“I was drafted here. There are a lot of memories here,” said Gray. “They gave me the opportunity to play in this league. And then, obviously, our first championship in Las Vegas was here in Connecticut.”

The thoughts of the Aces’ championship core echoes throughout the basketball world; the story of the game they love cannot be told without Connecticut.

The gravity of the moment was not lost on Aces head coach Becky Hammon, who has had the unique opportunity to watch the game grow as both a player and a coach. Hammon, who has deep family ties with the state, has battled the Sun as a player with the New York Liberty, as well as a coach when the Aces defeated Connecticut in the 2022 WNBA Finals to win their first of three championships in four years. Prior to Wednesday’s game, the head coach could not help but lament about the “bittersweet” feeling that she got from heading to New England for the final time, and she reiterated that point on Friday as well.

“I have a lot of memories in this building. This team has been here since 2003, it has become a staple in the W,” said Hammon.

“However, going back to Houston, I think is super exciting. I know there is a fanbase there ready to explode and accept this team, and is excited about the future. So, as much as life changes and things move on, and it’s time to close a certain chapter, I think there are bigger and better things in store when this team does get to move to Houston. Get down there and embrace a fanbase that really hasn’t had a team for years and years.”

Hammon also added how unfortunate it was that Houston had to wait since 2008 to get a WNBA team back, denying the Comets a chance to defend their status as the quintessential franchise in the league.

“Nobody has really matched that since, how when they first came out and won those first four championships. They had a jump on the league. They had a big 3 and a big 4 before anybody else even had a big 2. So, I’m excited for the franchise, and I think it’s a good move,” added Hammon.

In the Aces’ sendoff to the Sun, the defending champions took everything they could handle and managed to come away with a hard-fought victory.

Connecticut would have had it no other way.