Howdy,

Well, Tuesday night's game was as ugly as a bowling shoe (Jim Ross ™), but not every game (or win) can be pretty.

Connecticut shot a meager 36.2. The Sky shot even worse (36.2).

"I told (assistant) Bernadette (Mattox) about midway through the first half that this is just going to be one of those games that you just have to grind out somehow," Sun coach Mike Thibault said. "I thought we had tired legs to shoot the ball. We ran up and down the court fine, but I just thought we looked like we didn't have any bounce to shoot the ball except for our bench. I thought Tan (White), Kara (Lawson) and Kelsey (Griffin), in particular, jump-started the offense.

"We said you're going to have to win with defense tonight and we hung on to do it."

Few things of note:

■ Tina Charles had her seventh consecutive double-double, tying a career record set by Seattle's Lauren Jackson in 2003. Charles has had 37 double-doubles in 55 career games. That would be 67.3-percent.

That January 2010 trade in which El Sol sent Lindsay Whalen and the 2010 No. 2 pick (Monica Wright) to Minnesota for Renee Montgomery and the No. 1 pick (Charles) has worked out just swell for both organizations.

■ Lawson scored her 2,500th career point. She hit it right on the number on a 3-pointer with 16.2 seconds left in the third quarter, giving Conn a 53-41 lead.

■ Chicago reserve Eshaya Murphy continued her career revival Tuesday with 18 points, four rebounds and four steals.

Murphy, a fifth-year guard, was signed to a seven-day contract on July 25 and has so far been a keeper. She scored a career-high 21 points in Sunday's 88-69 rout over Eastern Conference leader Indiana.

Murphy has bounced around in a short period of time. Minnesota drafted her 15th overall (second round) in 2007. She's been traded twice and waived twice. She's played for five teams and is in her second stint with the Sky.

It's too early to determine if Murphy has finally found her groove because she's played just six games this year. She is, however, a reminder that some players take longer to develop than others.

■ ■ ■ ■

One last thing of note — Whalen scored her 3,000-point in Tuesday's 85-80 loss at Phoenix.

Whalen is just the sixth player in WNBA history to have 3,000 points, 1,000 rebounds and 1,000 assists in their career.

(I'll spare you the rant about how ridiculous it was that Whalen wasn't one of the 30 nominees for the WNBA's top 15 players of all-time balloting.)

Vaya con dios….