Mohegan

Nobody would have blamed Ketia Swanier if she ran to the scorer's table when Sun coach Mike Thibault summoned her to enter the game late Friday … and kept running. And running. Past the Atlanta bench, down the hall, up the escalator, past the craps tables, past Irene and Marge playing the slots, all the way to the parking lot.

Hell of an assignment, this guy Thibault gave her.

Yo, Ketia: See that player out there wearing No. 22? The one who has 37 points and has just scored seven straight? The one whose shooting hand is hotter than Texas chili? Go guard her.

So Swanier did.

Better than all the rest.

And the Sun won a beautifully entertaining basketball game, 109-101 in overtime, sending 7,612 fans home happy. Except that they'd nearly just seen the Sun become the answer to a trivia question, such as “Whom did Atlanta finally beat?”

The Dream were 0-13 at tipoff. But they had two things in their favor. They had Betty Lennox, a guard with whom the Sun are eerily familiar; and the benefit of the schedule, which must have been made by some guy on his third martini. More on that later.

We start with Lennox. She was the Most Valuable Player of the 2004 WNBA Finals with Seattle. Victim: The Sun. Thibault said she reminded him of Allen Iverson in this game. She was 17-for-32 from the floor for 44 points. Throw in nine rebounds, seven assists, five 3-pointers and three steals. She wore out everyone who tried to guard her, including Swanier earlier in the game.

At this point, there was 2 minutes, 54 seconds left and the Sun had a 79-78 lead. Lennox had just scored seven straight points, making her total 37.

”Use the quickest one you have,” was Thibault's reason to use Swanier.

A more cynical fellow might have thought, “well, she's torched everyone else … so what could it hurt?”

Swanier, the polite little tournament-tested dervish from UConn, accepted the challenge. She ran with Lennox. Stayed in front of her. Chased her with the verve of a police car heading to Dunkin' Donuts. And until Lennox made a meaningless 3 at the end of overtime, Swanier held her to four points in seven minutes.

”Ketia was a huge influence on the game,” Thibault said.

”It was exciting,” Swanier said.

”I'm just (ticked) off at the shots I missed,” Lennox said.

So now we know why Thibault was so sure about taking Swanier in the first round of the draft in April. He spoke to a friend of his long after midnight, just as Tennessee's championship celebration became a few echoes. The draft was in a few hours. Thibault's question: “What do you think of Swanier in the first round?”

His friend talked about her speed, ballhandling, defense, high character, but inconsistent shooting. But Thibault kept coming back to the same themes: She's a good kid, she's quick, she defends and she's played at college's highest level for a good coach.

Swanier has become a perfect part on the biggest surprise team in the WNBA. Nobody, maybe not even Thibault, thought they'd be in first place right now. But it's a pretty neat trick when you're out of answers with three minutes left and you can find one in the little kid who went to school up the road.

”We wanted a quick, quick guard,” Thibault said. “We needed someone who could stay in front of the quickest players in the league. As Ketia learns more, she'll be even better.”

Swanier was there for the Sun when they needed her most on Friday. She was there with Asjha Jones (30 points, 10 rebounds, league MVP candidate), Tamika Whitmore (28 points) and the tireless Lindsay Whalen (20 points, 10 rebounds, league MVP candidate). And she was there at a portion of the schedule that must have come just after the case of Grey Goose was delivered to WNBA offices.

In the past few weeks, the Sun have gone on a 13-day, five-city, five-game, 13,000-mile road trip. They came home Tuesday to play rival Detroit. Then they played rival Detroit again. (Why would you make the two best rivals in the league play twice in 72 hours?) Then Atlanta on a back-to-back, with Atlanta rested. Then run-and-gun Phoenix on Sunday. Then Houston on Tuesday. No word on whether the Celtics are coming Wednesday.

Maybe, though, this turns out well. Clearly, Thibault can go deep into his bench for production. He went to The Kid late Friday. And she slowed down the one the coach called Iverson. All of you who appreciated Swanier in college should think more happy thoughts for her today.

THIS IS THE OPINION OF DAY SPORTS COLUMNIST MIKE DIMAURO.

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