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Connecticut Sun
Since their beginnings, Simscroft-Echo Farms has been committed to helping their customers
grow and expand in the Farmington Valley and beyond. For over 20 years, Simsbury Bank has
been with them in the trenches, providing short-term working capital and long-term equipment
financing. With the support of Simsbury Bank's commercial banking professionals behind them,
Simscroft can stay focused on delivering top quality residential, commercial and industrial site
development services to their customers.
That's the way banking should be.
to a greater tomorrow
Digging the
"Simsbury Bank gives us
the support and tools
we need to grow our
business and serve
our customers."
Mike Girard
SimsburyBank.com
860.658.2265
sprinkled its roster over the years with other
UConn alumnae — Tina Charles, Asjha Jones,
Rebecca Lobo and Renee Montgomery. Thir-
teen ex-Huskies have played for the Sun.
But Etess insists the Sun never intention-
ally stocked their roster with ex-UConn tal-
ent, saying they simply "were the best players
available at the time.''
Tuck, a former All-American whom the
Sun drafted third overall in the 2016 WNBA
draft has been an invaluable contributor to
the team on and off the court, said team Vice
President Amber Cox, hired last December
from the WNBA's Phoenix Mercury, to over-
see marketing and other business activities
for the Sun and the Black Wolves.
Tuck mostly came off the bench her rookie
season, averaging 7 points and 2.8 rebounds in
26 games before a late-season knee injury. It's
the accessibility to fans by players like Tuck that
has made the WNBA successful, Etess said.
According to Tuck, who has been unable
to play since last August, working in the
team's front office, leading the team's commu-
nity basketball clinics, even manning phones
to solicit season ticketholders, allowed her to
stay close to the game and CT Sun Nation.
"I loved it,'' Tuck said. "I got to go out and
meet with the community a little bit more.''
"My dream job is to be a general manager,''
she said of her post-basketball goal. "It's cool to
see this side that you don't when you're a player.''
Creating a buzz
This season, the Sun will use new promotions
to widen its fan base and stir renewed excitement
among its supporters dismayed by the team's los-
ing record of 52-84 the last four years.
In 2016, the average Sun home game drew
5,837 fans, well below the more than 7,100
average attendance during the team's 2005 and
2006 seasons, when the Sun posted their most-
ever 26 wins in each. In 2007, the team's average
attendance peaked at 7,970, but has fallen below
6,000 in each of the last three seasons.
The typical Sun fan, Cox said, is 55 and
older, split evenly between females and
males among season ticketholders. In a nod
to them, the team is reactivating its dormant
"senior dance team" to entertain fans during
timeouts and halftime.
Among walkup ticketbuyers on game-day,
fans skew more female and younger, aged 20
to 35, Cox said.
Etess acknowledges the pressures trying to
build and retain a fan base while the Sun have
struggled to win in recent seasons. A new head
coach — Curt Miller, hired in Dec. 2015 and
Continued
