UNCASVILLE, Conn. (AP) — Connecticut Sun fans, many decked in the orange shirts they have been wearing for years, turned out one last time as the franchise played its final game before moving to Houston, a 95-81 win over the Toronto Tempo on Thursday night.
Longtime season ticket holders were among those honored as the Sun said goodbye to Mohegan Sun Arena.
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Connecticut Sun head coach Rachid Meziane talks with Connecticut Sun guard Hailey Van Lith in the first half of a WNBA basketball game against the Toronto Tempo, Thursday, Sept. 24, 2026, in Uncasville, Conn. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)
Connecticut Sun fan Adrianna Wilkinson, center left, of Brockton, Mass., holds up a handmade sign in the first half of a WNBA basketball game against the Toronto Tempo, Thursday, Sept. 24, 2026, in Uncasville, Conn. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)
Beth Regan, left center, chairwoman of the Mohegan Tribe's Council of Elders, watches the last WNBA home game of the Connecticut Sun, against the Toronto Tempo, Thursday, Sept. 24, 2026, at Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, Conn. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)
Connecticut Sun's Saniya Rivers, right, greets Connecticut Sun guard Ashlon Jackson at a time out in the first half of a WNBA basketball game against the Toronto Tempo, Thursday, Sept. 24, 2026, in Uncasville, Conn. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)
A fan holds up a sign in the first half of a WNBA basketball game between the Connecticut Sun and the Toronto Tempo, Thursday, Sept. 24, 2026, in Uncasville, Conn. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)
When the Sun moved from Orlando to Connecticut after the 2002 season, former UConn stars Nykesha Sales and Rebecca Lobo were the faces of the franchise. Sales, recently hired as an assistant coach at UConn, was among those recognized Thursday.
Another UConn product, Aaliyah Edwards, had 14 first-half points to help the Sun to a 38-36 lead at the break. The Sun took control in the third quarter, much to the delight of the sellout crowd of 8,911, and went on to snap a six-game skid.
Blaze, the Sun mascot, delighted the crowd by banking in a half-court shot shortly before the players came onto the court. The game ended with the five Sun players on the court embracing, and the rest of the team walked onto the court and raised their arms. Former UConn star and team president Jen Rizzotti grabbed a microphone and thanked the crowd.
“You guys have been our family for 24 years,” Rizzotti said. “I know how hard it is. You have proved that Connecticut deserves a WNBA team.”
Ashlon Jackson led Connecticut with 18 points, Raegan Beers had 17 points and Edwards finished with 16. Kiki Rice led Toronto with 28 points.
“The legacy is that we had a positive impact on a lot of people,” said Sun general manager Morgan Tuck, a former UConn and Sun player. “It might be an end here but it is not an end to our team. It is not an end to our players and what they are trying to do on the court. I think you just try to work on both at the same time. You try to be appreciative of what we have here.”
Connecticut reached the WNBA Finals in its second season, falling to Seattle in a winner-take-all Game 3 in 2004. The Sun also came up short in the 2005 and 2022 Finals.
Connecticut lost the first home game in franchise history to Los Angeles 82-73 on May 24, 2003. The franchise’s first win came against the Houston Comets six days later. Mohegan Sun Arena hosted the WNBA All-Star Game four times from 2005 to 2015 and regularly hosted preseason tournaments.
The Sun will be renamed the Comets starting next season.
This has been a difficult final season for the Sun. Five of the 10 players who played Thursday were rookies. Connecticut and Toronto each finished with 11-33 records and await the WNBA Draft lottery.
Sun coach Rachid Meziane's message to her team was that the time to say goodbye was after the game.
“People will never forget this franchise, never forget the name on the jersey,” she said.
See AP’s full WNBA coverage here
Connecticut Sun head coach Rachid Meziane talks with Connecticut Sun guard Hailey Van Lith in the first half of a WNBA basketball game against the Toronto Tempo, Thursday, Sept. 24, 2026, in Uncasville, Conn. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)
Connecticut Sun fan Adrianna Wilkinson, center left, of Brockton, Mass., holds up a handmade sign in the first half of a WNBA basketball game against the Toronto Tempo, Thursday, Sept. 24, 2026, in Uncasville, Conn. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)
Beth Regan, left center, chairwoman of the Mohegan Tribe's Council of Elders, watches the last WNBA home game of the Connecticut Sun, against the Toronto Tempo, Thursday, Sept. 24, 2026, at Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, Conn. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)
Connecticut Sun's Saniya Rivers, right, greets Connecticut Sun guard Ashlon Jackson at a time out in the first half of a WNBA basketball game against the Toronto Tempo, Thursday, Sept. 24, 2026, in Uncasville, Conn. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)
A fan holds up a sign in the first half of a WNBA basketball game between the Connecticut Sun and the Toronto Tempo, Thursday, Sept. 24, 2026, in Uncasville, Conn. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)
UNCASVILLE, Conn. (AP) — The Connecticut WNBA franchise has played final game in the state before it moves to Houston next year after an impressive run for the first independently owned team in the league.
Texas will be the third stop for the franchise. The team moved to Connecticut in 2003 from Orlando. The Sun made four trips to the WNBA Finals and hosted a record four All-Star Games, and Connecticut was the first team to turn a profit in the league's history. The team, which was purchased for $10 million, was sold for $300 million.
“It’s been an emotional week,” team president Jen Rizzotti told The Associated Press. “The silver lining of the chapter closing is it forces you to look at what this franchise has meant for over two decades and make sure the story is told and the legacy lasts forever.”
The franchise is moving to the home of the former Comets, who won the first four WNBA titles. Its time in Connecticut ended Thursday against Toronto in the regular-season finale. The Sun went out a winner, beating the Tempo 95-81.
Rizzotti will move to Houston with the team as president of basketball operations. She said that 75-80% of the front office staff will also make the move.
“It’s exciting to celebrate the past while also being emotional that it’s ending,” she said. “Thursday is a celebration of our fans with fan appreciation night. One game isn’t enough to show the appreciation of how much they poured into the franchise for 24 years.”
The WNBA seems to have outgrown the Sun, with the new collective bargaining agreement demanding standard amenities for all teams that include state-of-the-art practice facilities.
The Mohegan Tribe, which owns the franchise, sold the team to Houston Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta for $300 million.
The Sun had an offer for $325 million from a group led by Celtics minority owner Steve Pagliuca that would have moved the franchise to Boston. The WNBA basically blocked that deal by saying that “relocation decisions are made by the WNBA Board of Governors and not by individual teams.”
Now the franchise is becoming the first to relocate since San Antonio moved to Las Vegas in 2017.
“It’s sad,” former Sun CEO Mitchell Etess said in a phone interview. “I put a lot into it and to see it go is sad. It did confirm that it was a good business decision to bring it there in the first place. If I was still CEO I’d recommend we sell it for that much profit.”
Being in the smallest market in the WNBA led to difficulties for the franchise to attract top free agents. Over the past two years the team has gone from being a WNBA Finals contender to rebuilding mode.
Throughout the season, Connecticut honored some of the franchise's iconic players, including Jonquel Jones, Jasmine Thomas, Alyssa Thomas, Tina Charles along with coaches Curt Miller and Mike Thibault. The group joined other Connecticut standouts — Margo Dydek, Katie Douglas, Nykesha Sales, Taj McWilliams-Franklin, Lindsay Whalen and Asjha Jones — in the rafters at the arena.
Thibault was the last of the group to be honored as Connecticut hosted the event after last Sunday's game against Minnesota. Whalen, Charles and McWilliams-Franklin were in attendance for that contest as well as dozens of other former employees and front office staffers.
They told stories and stayed well after the game reminiscing about the franchise. Rizzotti expected a similar celebration after Thursday's finale.
“I know we’re going really blow the game out,” she said. “Lot of things we’re giving away, postgame mingles and autograph opportunities. When everybody leaves we’ll just pop Champagne on the court for the last time. I'm proud of what we built.”
Etess remembers trying to sell NBA Commissioner David Stern on moving a franchise to the Mohegan Sun. The late commissioner was concerned about putting a team in a casino, but as it turns out, he was ahead of his time.
“There was a lot of excitement at the beginning, still a casino and a professional sports team being together wasn’t well received everywhere,” Etess recalled in a phone conversation. “David Stern took a lot of the hard questions when that was happening. In retrospect, it was an icebreaker for a lot of the gambling stuff that happened since. The tribe was proud of having the team as it was great to bring national attention to the state and casino.”
The Mohegan Tribe bought the team for $10 million and with the WNBA in CBA negotiations the franchise had a few months to get everything ready to start in 2003. Thibault remembers when he was hired as the coach in January, the franchise had literally nothing.
Thibault said he had to order basketballs, uniforms and even sports bras for his players. The franchise quickly turned into contenders, reaching the WNBA Finals in 2004 and 2005.
Thibault joked that when the team first started fans came to games to cheer on former UConn players when they came to town, but soon they became fans of the franchise.
“The first year, we didn’t have as good attendance as we had hoped, but that changed quickly,” Etess said. “We didn't give tickets away. After the second year we were always up there in total attendance for many, many years.”
The Sun became the first team in WNBA history to make a profit when they made it happen in 2010.
“It meant a lot to us,” Etess said. “We really focused on doing everything right, trying to run the team professionally.”
Etess is sad to see the state lose its last professional team in an area that has been a women's basketball hotbed for so long.
“It's odd that the league didn’t want the team to stay in Connecticut,” he said. “Connecticut is such a crucial part of women’s basketball. The state that loves women’s basketball isn’t going to have a pro team, doesn’t feel right to me.”
See AP’s full WNBA coverage here
FILE - Connecticut Sun guard Leila Lacan (47) celebrates a play with teammates during the second half of a WNBA basketball game against the Dallas Wings in Arlington, Texas, Wednesday, Aug. 27, 2025. (AP Photo/LM Otero, File)
FILE - Fans show their support for the return to Connecticut of Diana Taurasi as well as the Connecticut Sun, during WNBA basketball team's home opener in Uncasville, Conn., Saturday, May 22, 2004. (AP Photo/John Spivey, File)
FILE - Connecticut Sun's Tina Charles (31), Renee Montgomery (21) and Kara Lawson (20) return to the court after a timeout in the second half of Game 3 of the WNBA basketball Eastern Conference finals against the Indiana Fever in Uncasville, Conn., Thursday, Oct. 11, 2012. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill, File)
FILE - WNBA League President Val Ackerman, left, and Mohegan Tribe Tribal Chairman Mark Brown hold a basketball shirt of the type that will be worn by the WNBA team Connecticut Sun during a news conference Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2003, at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn. (AP Photo/Bob Child, File)
