UNCASVILLE, Conn. — Curt Miller is a film nerd. During his endless film sessions, the Sun coach noticed something about Aces guard Chelsea Gray: Most of her shots against his team were contested. She was making them, but the Sun players always had a hand up.

So, how do you stop someone who seemingly can’t be stopped?

You put a player with a 7-foot-4 wingspan on her to make those shots even harder.

Enter DeWanna Bonner, who hasn’t given much thought to her own length.

“I just learned that tonight, literally,” Bonner said with a laugh after Connecticut beat Las Vegas 105-76 to force Game 4 of the WNBA Finals. “Holly Rowe (of ESPN) walked up to me and said so. She said she Googled it. I’ve never measured it, but if Holly says it, it’s probably true.”

The exact number doesn’t matter. What does matter is the way Bonner’s long limbs overwhelm ball handlers and shot-makers like Gray.

“(Gray) has an incredible release point and incredible knack for scoring while contested,” Miller said. “So we decided to put a little bit more length on her.”

Before Thursday’s contest, Gray was averaging 23.3 points per game on 68.8 percent shooting, recording 21 points in each of the first two WNBA Finals contests.

In Game 3, she had just 11 points on seven shots.

The Sun sent different players at Gray throughout the contest, but Bonner spent the most time on the Aces’ point guard.

Gray scored her first bucket with 7:46 left in the first quarter. After that, she made three 3-pointers in the second quarter, but none of them came when she was matched up against Bonner.

“I’m just trying to stay locked in and limit her touches as much as I can, not give her too much room,” Bonner said. “Try to use my length more than anything. I’m a 6-4 guard for a reason, so I just try to use my length, use my speed because … she’s been playing incredible basketball. However I can limit her touches or try to limit her from seeing the basket, getting a clean look at the basket, is what I’m trying to do before she even gets to her spot.”

Miller’s decision to lean on Bonner for a difficult defensive assignment is one that her former college coach, Nell Fortner, knows well.

Fortner was at the helm when Bonner played at Auburn from 2005-09. Any time an opposing player had Fortner stumped, she turned to Bonner.

“We had her guarding people’s point guards,” said Fortner, now the head coach at Georgia Tech. “That is very long and very lengthy on the ball. She’s able to stay up with you laterally — that is unheard of. Defensively, I could put her on anyone.”

Over the first two games of the series against Las Vegas, Bonner struggled. She had just five total points on 11.1 percent shooting, a stark contrast to the 13.9 points per game she averaged in the first two rounds against Dallas and Chicago.

Her two lowest point totals in those rounds were nine against Dallas and two against Chicago — both losses for the Sun.

Bonner’s ability to score is clearly critical to the Sun’s success, and on Thursday she used her defense as a means of jumpstarting her offense.

“We challenged her this game, and she took those challenges head on,” Miller said. “She played with energy and played with offensive efficiency. It just gives the rest of our crew so much confidence.”

Textbook cut from the vet.@DEEBONNER24 | #CTSun | #WNBAFinals pic.twitter.com/1K0gIyT18I

— Connecticut Sun (@ConnecticutSun) September 16, 2022

Bonner says she didn’t do anything differently going into the game other than sleeping in her own bed, something the self-described homebody was looking forward to after the stint in Vegas.

Instead, she just stayed the course, focused on defense and let her offense come naturally.

Bonner finished with 18 points, six rebounds and five assists, kickstarting a Connecticut attack that had six players finish the game in double figures. Jonquel Jones led the way with 20 points, while Alyssa Thomas recorded the first triple-double in WNBA Finals history with 16 points, 15 rebounds and 11 assists. Natisha Hiedneman added 14 points, Courtney Williams had 11, and DiJonai Carrington came off the bench to add 12.

According to Miller, everything Connecticut does starts with the 35-year-old guard.

“She’s such a veteran, respected presence in our locker room,” Miller said. “There’s no secret that she has championship pedigree and has played on some great teams. And so we have a group that really looks up to her.”

Bonner’s experience in the league, including two WNBA championships with the Mercury, has certainly helped her hone her leadership skills, but she showed that ability even before she got to the pros.

“That was something that we saw her grow into at Auburn,” Fortner said. “By her senior year, we won that SEC championship. She was very competitive, focused and everybody followed her.”

After following her to a Game 3 victory, the Sun are hoping to follow Bonner a little further, all the way to the franchise’s first WNBA title.

Eden Laase is a Staff Writer at Just Women’s Sports. Follow her on Twitter @eden_laase.

Cameron Brink already has her rookie of the year pick for the upcoming WNBA season, and it’s Indiana-bound star Caitlin Clark. 

In the latest edition of Kelley on the Street, host Kelley O'Hara caught up with Brink in New York hours before the Stanford phenom went No. 2 overall to the Los Angeles Sparks at the 2024 WNBA Draft. When O’Hara asked who would win the WNBA's rookie of the year, she answered without pause.

"Caitlin Clark," she said, while a fan commented that she thought Brink would take home the award. Brink later added that the extra foul granted to WNBA players will be "good for me."

"I hope it’s me," Charisma Osborne, who was later drafted by the Phoenix Mercury, said when asked her ROY prediction. "But, I don’t know — we’ll see."

Watch more of Kelley on the Street:

Maria Sanchez issued a statement on Thursday, confirming recent reports that she has requested a trade from the Houston Dash. 

In it, she revealed that the club has been aware of the request "since late March."

"This has all taken a toll and isn’t an easy thing to talk about, but I want to confirm that I’ve requested an immediate trade," she wrote. "My expectations and reasons have been clear. I trust that my current club’s management will honor my decision in a timely manner and proceed with accepting a trade."

"I’m eager to refocus and dive back into what I love most: playing football," she concluded.

Thank you, everyone, for the outpouring of kindness and support. pic.twitter.com/gcnN7dhCJU

— Maria Sanchez (@Maria17_7) April 19, 2024

Reports of Sanchez's trade request first surfaced on ESPN last week, and were later confirmed by multiple sources. 

In December of last year, Sanchez signed a three-year contract with the Dash valued at $1.5 million including bonuses and an option year. It was the largest contract in NWSL history at the time — a figure that would be eclipsed by multiple contracts in the following months. 

Sanchez spent the offseason as a restricted free agent, meaning that Houston could match any other team's offer to retain her rights. Should the Dash trade Sanchez, her current contract terms would remain intact, limiting potential buyers to teams able to afford to take on an inking of that size.

The Dash has yet to address the trade, instead reiterating to ESPN that Sanchez is "under contract, a choice she made in free agency at the end of 2023." 

Both the NWSL trade window and transfer window close tonight, April 19th, at 12 a.m. ET. The window will stay closed through the next 11 regular season games, reopening on August 1st, 2024.

The four-time league champion Seattle Storm unveiled their new practice facility on Thursday, with Storm co-owner Lisa Brummel dubbing Interbay's Seattle Storm Center for Basketball Performance the team’s "new home."

"It's just such a special space," Brummel told Fox 13 Seattle. "I think when the players get here, it's gonna be overwhelming."

The sprawling 50,000-square-foot, $64 million property is just the second designated practice facility to be designed and built expressly for a WNBA team, with the Storm further noting that 85% of all design and engineering team members involved in the project's construction were women and people of color. The finished product holds two professional indoor courts, two 3x3 outdoor courts, a state-of-the-art locker room, and players' lounge, plus designated areas for strength and conditioning, kitchen, dining, and nutrition, and recovery. 

"This facility reflects our commitment to providing our athletes an exceptional environment that supports their growth, health, and performance," said Storm co-owner Ginny Gilder in an official team release. "It’s built for women, by women, embodying our dedication to leading the way in professional women’s sports."

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For their part, the team can't wait to make the faciilty their own.

"It's amazing," Storm guard Jewell Loyd told Fox 13. "Not having to drive everywhere around, knowing you have access anytime of the day to get into the gym, to workout." 

Head coach Noelle Quinn said she predicts the team is "never going to leave this building."

"Which is a good thing for me," she continued. "You talk about having an edge in performance. We want our athletes to not only perform on the court, but get whatever they need."

All of the Storm's staff and operations will now live under one roof, and the team also has plans to launch a youth basketball program operating out of the building.

The Caitlin Clark effect is quickly making its mark on the big leagues, as WNBA host teams around the country rush to upgrade their Fever games to larger arenas in order to accommodate surging ticket sales.

With Clark mere weeks away from her Indiana Fever debut, both the Las Vegas Aces and Washington Mystics have officially relocated their scheduled home games with head coach Christie Sides' squad. On Thursday, the Mystics became the latest to adjust their plans, moving their June 7th matchup from Entertainment & Sports Arena in Southwest DC to the more centrally located — and much larger — Capital One Arena "due to unprecedented demand."

The Mystics home court's capacity taps out at 4,200, while Capital One Arena — home to the Wizards, Capitals, and Georgetown Hoya's Men's Basketball — can fit nearly five times that crowd at some 20,000 spectators.

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"The move to Capital One Arena will allow for additional fans in the stands as well as premium hospitality options, including Suites and the all-new all-inclusive courtside Hennessy Lofts," the team announced via Thursday's press release.

The Aces were one of the first teams to switch venues, aiming to take on the Indiana Fever in front of as many as 20,000 fans inside T-Mobile Arena on July 2nd. That’s a sizable a boost from their home venue, which holds just 12,000.

For those still planning to face the Fever in their home arenas, ticket prices have skyrocketed. Previously scheduled construction has already forced the LA Sparks to relocate their first five games — including their May 24th clash with the Fever — to Long Beach State's Walter Pyramid. The temporary venue is quite the downsize, holding just 4,000 in comparison to Crypto.com Arena's near-19,000. As of Friday, the get-in price for that game started around $400.

Despite fans launching a Change.org petition urging relocation, the Chicago Sky say they're unable to move their June 23rd Fever meeting from Wintrust Arena's 10,000-seat facility to the 23,500-seat United Center due to a concert. Tickets for that game start around $325 as of Friday.