Mohegan — The New York Liberty, coined prior to the season as one of the WNBA’s “super teams,” are pretty good at one thing for certain, closing games.

They also have what more than one person called “the best player in the world,” following Tuesday night’s matchup against their WNBA Eastern Conference foe, the Connecticut Sun.

Former UConn star Breanna Stewart led New York (10-3) with 24 points on 11-for-17 shooting and the Liberty, coming off a one-point overtime win against Washington in their previous outing, scored the game’s final nine points to outlast the Sun 89-81.

“It shows our resiliency and staying true to how we want to play,” New York coach Sandy Brondello said of the second straight late-game rally. “... Our players have the ability to execute.”

The Sun came back from a 16-point deficit in the third quarter to lead by one at 81-80 with 3 minutes, 39 seconds to play, getting career-highs off the bench from DiJonai Carrington (23) and Olivia Nelson-Ododa (14) and an unprecedented second straight triple-double from Alyssa Thomas.

Connecticut (12-4) took the lead on a bank shot by Thomas to cap a 13-0 run, sending the 7,344 fans at Mohegan Sun into a state of hysteria. (Thomas, who finished with 11 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists, has recorded the WNBA’s last seven triple-doubles.)

The Liberty took the lead for good, though, on a pair of free throws by Courtney Vandersloot and got a 3-pointer by Betnijah Laney to push the lead to a more comfortable four.

Stewart, a four-time national champion at UConn, also had nine rebounds, three assists, a steal and hit two back-breaking 3-point field goals at the start of the third quarter.

Earlier this week, Stewart was named one of two WNBA All-Star Game captains along with A’ja Wilson of Las Vegas.

“Incredible,” New York’s Vandersloot said of playing with Stewart. “I think she’s one of the best players in the world.”

“Look, Breanna Stewart’s the best player in the world,” Connecticut head coach Stephanie White said. “She was 11-for-17, she was really efficient. You just have to continue to try to make things tough on her.”

Creating its status as a “super team,” the Liberty were the first team in WNBA history to add three all-stars in the offseason with Jonquel Jones (Connecticut), Stewart (Seattle) and Vandersloot (Chicago) joining the fray in Brooklyn.

The Sun played a welcome-back video for Jones, who played in Connecticut for six seasons, winning the 2021 MVP, prior to the game. Jones finished with 14 points and eight rebounds in her return.

It was the second straight win for the Liberty over the Sun, as New York topped Connecticut 81-65 May 27 in Brooklyn.

“Certainly it’s disappointing,” White said of the loss. “Despite the fact that we really struggled, especially defensively, to still be in a position to win the ballgame and not come away with it ... I felt like our sense of urgency, our discipline defensively wasn’t right throughout the 40 minutes of the ballgame.

“We’re a really good defensive team. Tonight was not our best effort.”

The first half featured 13 lead changes in an offensive tug-of-war. Stewart led the Liberty with 14 points in the half and Laney had 10, while Vandersloot had six assists, giving New York a 47-43 edge.

The Sun, meanwhile, got contributions from up and down the lineup, meeting the Liberty challenge for challenge.

Vandersloot’s three-point play to give New York a 20-19 lead was met by a three-point play from the Sun’s Thomas to put Connecticut back in front. Marine Johannes followed that with a 3-pointer for New York and DeWanna Bonner came back with a 3-pointer for the Sun.

Connecticut led 29-28 after one quarter after a drive by Thomas.

Nelson-Ododa, in her second year in the league out of UConn, gave the Sun their next two leads. Nelson-Ododa first defended New York’s Jones, grabbed the defensive rebound and then scored on an assist from Carrington to make it 31-30 in Connecticut’s favor.

With the Liberty leading 39-35 on a jump shot by Stewart, baskets by Carrington and Ty Harris tied it for the Sun, followed by a putback from Nelson-Ododa which put Connecticut up 41-39 and prompted a New York timeout.

The Liberty scored eight straight points to end the half, including 3-pointers by Laney and Vandersloot.

New York continued its 3-point barrage in the third quarter, taking the game’s first double-digit lead with consecutive long-range shots from Stewart and Jones, making it 53-43.

Vandersloot followed with an offensive rebound to make it 55-43 and, after a basket by the Sun’s Bonner, Stewart drilled another 3 for a 58-45 advantage.

The Liberty’s lead ballooned to as many as 16 on a three-point play by Jones and they still led 80-68 on a fourth-quarter layup by Vandersloot.

Thomas started the Sun’s run of 13 unanswered points on an offensive rebound, Carrington drilled a 3-pointer and Nelson-Ododa converted a three-point play with 4:59 to play. Carrington followed with another 3 to carve the deficit to 80-79 and Thomas gave Connecticut the lead.

v.fulkerson@theday.com