Former UConn star Kelly Faris' rookie season in
WNBA ended prematurely due to a foot injury

An already difficult season for the Connecticut Sun became all the more painful and challenging with the news that All-Star guard Allison Hightower and rookie guard Kelly Faris, a former UConn star, will miss the final 10 games of the season.

Hightower, who missed the last three games, has a strained right knee. Faris has reinjured the left foot she hurt in the 2012-13 regular-season finale for UConn.

“We are really disappointed, obviously,” Sun coach Anne Donovan said. “Allison has begun to emerge as one of the best young guards in the WNBA, as evidenced by her well-deserved selection to the All Star team. And Kelly worked hard to gain a spot in the starting lineup. She was playing better and better, and she is definitely someone we had grown to count on this season. I have no doubt she will continue to work hard to get back on the court.”

Overall, five Sun players have missed a total of 40 games this season. Connecticut has had a full roster of 11 players available for an entire game just twice, against New York in the season opener, and at Tulsa on July 19. The Sun started with 11 players at Chicago on May 31, but lost Renee Montgomery in the fourth quarter with a high ankle sprain.

Hightower set career highs by averaging 12.8 points, 3.1 rebounds, 3.0 assists, 0.3 blocks per game and a total of 24 3-pointers which is one fewer than she had in her first three seasons combined. Hightower scored in double figures in 15 of the 21 games she played in this season.

Faris, who didn't miss a game during her four seasons at UConn, played in the Sun's first 24 games and started the last three games. She averaged 2.1 points, 2.2 rebounds and 0.7 assists per game. Faris had her best scoring game with 11 points in an 88-86 win over Atlanta on Aug. 14 and had a career-high seven rebounds in two of her last three games.

Tina Charles, Kelsey Griffin, Kalana Greene and Faris are the only players to appear in all 24 games for the Sun this season.

The Sun began the night with a WNBA worst 7-17 record and is three games behind defending champion Indiana for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.