UNCASVILLE, Conn. (AP) -Detroit had dominated its recent games with Connecticut, winning five in a row coming into Tuesday night.
But Asjha Jones scored 20 points and rookie Amber Holt added a career-high 19 as the Sun moved ahead of the Shock and into first place in the Eastern Conference with an 85-68 victory.
Connecticut (11-3) hadn't beaten Detroit since Aug. 26, 2006, and hadn't beaten Detroit (10-4) in a regular-season game since June 18, 2005.
Rookie Kerri Gardin also scored a career-high 14 for the Sun, who outrebounded the Shock, 42-32.
``My teammates said that Detroit is big and physical and that it would be a fight,'' Gardin said.
Detroit trailed by as many as 15 late in the third period, but climbed to within 65-60 with 9 minutes remaining. From there, Connecticut went on an 11-2 run, capped by three free throws from Holt following Cheryl Ford's flagrant foul and a technical foul on the Detroit bench.
The Shock never got the deficit under double digits after that.
``We came in with a sense of entitlement, not urgency, and it cost us,'' Detroit coach Bill Laimbeer said. ``We have some internal problems we need to fix.''
The Sun hit four straight 3-pointers in the middle of the third period to take a 61-46 lead. Lindsay Whalen, who scored 10 points, had a franchise-record six assists in that period.
Deanna Nolan led the Shock with 17 points. Katie Smith had 16 and Ford had 13 points and 11 rebounds.
The Sun erased an early eight-point deficit with a 14-0 run, capped by rookie Gardin's 3-pointer late in the first period, and led 22-16 going into the second.
Holt made consecutive 3-pointers to give Connecticut a 34-27 lead, but Detroit responded with six straight points, highlighted by Sheri Sam's 3-pointer. Holt converted a rebound basket with less than a second left to give the Sun a 40-33 lead at halftime.
``The biggest difference for us was defense and rebounding,'' Whalen said. ``The offensive rebounds came at really timely points of the game.''
