AUBURN HILLS, Mich. (AP) -Bill Laimbeer's focused his pregame talk on defense and rebounding. The Detroit Shock appeared to get the message.
Two days after in a lopsided loss at Connecticut, the defending Eastern Conference champions beat the Sun 70-61 on Thursday night.
Deanna Nolan scored 13 points, pacing a balanced Shock offensive attack that included five double-figure scorers.
``We were disappointed in ourselves on Tuesday - we just didn't do the things we were capable of doing,'' said Shock guard Katie Smith, one of three Detroit players to score 10 points. ``We know what we're capable of and we have to take care of our stuff and it starts with the little things.''
The Shock (11-4) outrebounded the Sun 37-32 and grabbed 11 offensive rebounds while limiting Connecticut's second-chance opportunities. Detroit used an 11-1 third-quarter run to build a commanding lead after Connecticut trimmed it to five.
Nolan's 3-point field goal with 3:44 remaining in the quarter gave the Shock a 50-37 lead before Cheryl Ford closed out the run off an offensive putback. Ford, along with Smith and Pierson, scored 10 points, while Kara Braxton added 11. Pierson left the game in the third quarter with a right knee strain and is day-to-day.
Pierson, who spent the rest of the game on the bench with her knee heavily wrapped, had plenty of backup in her absence.
``That's what we're about - we're not a selfish team,'' said Ford, who also had a team-high nine rebounds. ``We share the ball and we play together.''
Asjha Jones led the Sun (11-4) with 14 points. Connecticut never led and struggled early, hitting only 32.7 percent of its shots while committing 16 turnovers. The Sun scored only seven first-quarter points, the second-lowest single-quarter output of the season.
``We were tentative offensively and they were more aggressive than we us,'' Connecticut coach Mike Thibault said.
``I think we got Detroit's attention the other night. They were probably a little more focused on how to play against us. We were just so bad offensively in the first quarter that we dug ourselves a pretty big hole.''
Detroit led 37-27 at halftime after scoring 15 straight points to finish the first quarter and begin the second.
