Stephanie White has the Connecticut Sun playing even better defense in her second year as the team’s head coach. In the latest episode of Locked On Women’s Basketball, White joins host Howard Megdal to chat about the Sun’s quest for a title and the many ways they hope this year’s ending can be different.
“Having Brionna Jones back on the floor certainly helps,” White said, referring to the team’s growth defensively. “She really is a quarterback for us on the defensive end of the floor, does a great job of communicating stuff for us. She’s kind of a catch all, has everybody’s back. It allows us to do some different things that we might not have been able to do a year ago.”
Entering play on Tuesday, Connecticut sits at 22-7, three games behind the New York Liberty for first place in standings. But for the Sun to walk away with the franchise’s first WNBA title, it’ll take a number of factors to fall into place over the next few weeks.
“It always takes a little bit of luck, right?” White said. “You gotta stay healthy. You gotta hit your stride. It’s about momentum at the right time. It’s about matchups in the playoffs. It’s about all of those things, but it’s also about being able to be flexible and adjust. You can’t do the same things to teams in a series in the playoffs that you did to them in a regular season game that was a week or two or three weeks apart. You just can’t.
“You’ve got to try to stay ahead of the curve, and then it comes down to players making plays and having multiple players on the floor that you can go to.”
Tune in to Locked On Women’s Basketball for more from White about the state of the Sun, Marina Mabrey‘s two-way contributions, DiJonai Carrington and Ty Harris’ growth and so much more.