What we learned from the Connecticut Sun’s comeback win vs. Toronto Tempo in preseason opener
Aneesah Morrow sealed the Connecticut Sun ’s comeback win over the Toronto Tempo on Wednesday night with a kiss.
Connecticut trailed Toronto by as many as 13 points in the third quarter, but the rookie-laden Sun clawed their way back to an 83-78 victory powered by a spectacular fourth quarter from Morrow. The second-year forward put up 11 points in the fourth, making highlight reel play after highlight reel play on the run.
Morrow scored back-to-back jump shots early in the quarter to cut the Tempo’s lead back to a single possession for the first time since the second quarter. She pulled up from several feet behind the arc to swish a 3-pointer with three minutes left that gave the Sun a two-possession lead and got coach Rachid Meziane grinning on the sideline. The game-clinching bucket was her steal-and-score layup that put Connecticut up by six with less than 50 seconds on the clock. She blew a kiss to the crowd as the shot dropped, a ‘welcome to the league’ moment for Toronto fans in their first preseason game as a new expansion franchise.
Morrow finished with a team-high 21 points off the bench shooting 7-for-10 from the field and came just shy of a double-double with seven rebounds. She was also a standout defensively, leading the Sun with three steals plus a block.
“She has something you cannot teach,” Meziane said with a smile postgame. “She plays with a lot of energy, and she’s everywhere on the floor … I think tonight she showed that we can rely on her, and coming off the bench wasn’t easy for her, but she did a great job. Defensively, offensively, she (allowed) us to get some second chances, and I think that was a big part of our win tonight.”
The road matchup marked Connecticut’s first preseason action of the 2026 season, and though the Tempo were shorthanded with four of their top veterans out, Morrow looks primed for a breakout second season after her dominant performance. Her offensive bag has expanded dramatically from where it was last year, and she’s playing with an obvious comfort and freedom she didn’t have as a rookie.
“My confidence is extremely high,” Morrow said. “We’ve released the beast, so expect that when we get into the season, just that work and that work ethic. But having fun playing basketball, that’s one thing over the (offseason) that I really wanted to emphasize, and getting my love back for the game is something that I did. You can see it on the floor, just me having fun, being able to lead and challenging myself.”
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Rookies ready to contribute despite growing pains
All five of the Sun’s available rookies saw the court on Wednesday night, and the standout, as she’s been throughout training camp, was former UCLA point guard Charlisse Leger-Walker . Leger-Walker logged eight points shooting 75% from the field plus a team-high four assists, a steal and a block, and she played more minutes (24) than anyone else on the roster.
Meziane trusted Leger-Walker to be on the court during the Sun’s entire fourth-quarter comeback, and her most impressive series came late in the game when she sank a tough driving layup that gave Connecticut its first lead since the second quarter. She immediately followed the crucial offensive play with a block on Tempo guard Dara Mabrey at the other end, then gave Morrow the handoff that turned into her deep 3-pointer to extend the Sun’s run.
It was a more difficult night for Leger-Walker’s former UCLA teammate Gianna Kneepkens , who struggled with the physicality in her WNBA debut. The rookie sharpshooter nailed a huge 3-pointer during the comeback in the fourth — fittingly assisted by Leger-Walker — but finished just 1-for-6 from the field and 1-for-3 beyond the arc. It was a poor 3-point shooting night for the whole team, which hit a combined 5-for-20, but the Sun will need Kneepkens to be a consistent threat from the perimeter as the season progresses.
The Sun also got impactful plays from third-round draft pick Taylor Bigby and undrafted training camp signee Raegan Beers . Bigby played just nine minutes but put up a block and an assist on top of her first professional basket, a driving layup through contact. Beers logged four points shooting 2-for-2 with five rebounds, two assists, a steal and a block.
“They showed they can play under pressure, because it wasn’t an easy game,” Meziane said. “How Charlisse handled the situation, (Gianna) shot an important ball and wasn’t scared to take the shot. Taylor Bigby stepped on the floor with a lot of confidence, and Raegan. All of them were very important, so they showed that they are ready.”
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Sun feel absence of experienced point guard
It was clear on Wednesday night how badly the Sun miss Leila Lacan . The second-year French phenom is expected to start at point guard once the regular season is underway, but Lacan has yet to report to training camp as she completes her season overseas in France’s Ligue Feminine. In just 25 game appearances last season, Lacan was second on the team in assists with 3.7 per game and was the third-leading scorer averaging 10.4 points.
Against the Tempo, the Sun weren’t just missing Lacan. Veteran point guard Shey Peddy was ruled out with a lower left leg injury, and rookie point guard Harmoni Turner was a late scratch due to illness, which forced Meziane to rework his lineups last minute.
Second-year guard Saniya Rivers , who mostly played the two or three last season, ran point in the starting lineup with Leger-Walker and second-year guard Migna Toure coming in as her backups, and the lack of experience in the team’s ball-handlers was apparent in their turnover woes. Leger-Walker gave up a team-high five and Rivers had four with Toure adding two in seven minutes. The Sun turned the ball over 26 times as a team, and the Tempo scored 27 points off those lost possessions.
Lacan will join the team within the next two to three weeks, and Peddy’s absence shouldn’t be long term, but the current lack of options provides a good opportunity for Rivers to expand her skillset as a primary ball-handler.
“It’s something we wanted to try, and we know that she’s capable of handling this role on our team,” Meziane said. “It fives us different opportunities in our offense with her length and with her speed … That’s something she wants to explore, playing point guard, so we’ll see, but that’s something we have in our mind, and if we can take some advantage using her in this position, we’ll do it.”
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