UNCASVILLE, Conn. -- The Connecticut Sun wanted to separate themselves from their closest pursuer.

Nykesha Sales and Margo Dydek helped make it happen Tuesday night.

Sales scored 19 points and the 7-foot-2 Dydek finished with 12 defensive rebounds and five blocked shots to lead the Eastern Conference-leading Sun to a 68-55 win over the Indiana Fever.

It was the first of five straight conference games for Connecticut, which has dominated Western Conference opponents (12-1), but is just 5-4 against its own conference foes.

"This is a big week for us," Sales said. "I think that we have to do a lot of things in order to come out of this week. We're facing some good teams that are playing well."

Connecticut extended its conference lead over the second-place Fever to 3½ games.

The Sun remain the only team in the WNBA this season with a perfect home record (9-0). The Sun have won 14 straight at Mohegan Sun arena, dating to last season.

Tully Bevilaqua had a career-high 19 points for Indiana. Tamika Catchings, limited to just five points in the first half, finished with 13.

The victory avenged a 64-53 loss in Indianapolis two weeks ago in which the Sun were held to a season low in points

"The biggest difference was they played zone for 75 percent of the game compared to playing man last time," Catchings said. "We have gotten better with our zone, except tonight it seemed like we struggled a little bit at times."

Lindsay Whalen shot a career-best 4-for-4 from beyond the arc and scored 13 points for Connecticut. She was just 3-of-20 from behind the arc before Tuesday night.

"I hit my 3s, but if I only could have hit my 2s, it would have been a really good night," Whalen said. "It was a huge game. The effort had to be there, the intensity had to be there. We wanted to create more space between them and us."

Whalen provided most of the offense early for Connecticut, hitting consecutive 3s that gave the Sun the lead for good at 10-8. Sales then heated up and scored all 13 of her first-half points in the final 9:51.

The Sun broke the game open with a 12-0 run and held Indiana scoreless for five minutes. Connecticut led by as many as 17 down the stretch and took a 39-25 lead at the break.

The Sun got a scare early in the second half when Sales collided with Kelly Miller and was on the floor for several seconds, holding her mouth in obvious pain. She walked off on her own, and after a brief visit to the training room, returned and played the rest of the game.

Dydek's post play got the Sun's transition going each time Indiana threatened. The Fever got within seven points twice in the final 4 minutes. After Catchings made a free throw to cut the lead to 62-55 with 2:57 left, Sales hit Katie Douglas with an inbounds pass, and Douglas converted.

Dydek sealed the win on the next possession with a wide-open layup. She stood alone on the baseline as Indiana triple-teamed Taj McWilliams-Franklin, who flipped her the ball.

"When you put (Dydek) in the middle of the zone, in front of the rim, she makes people change their shots," Sun coach Mike Thibault said. "Her outlet passes started some fast breaks for us and we were able to get out and run."

The Sun have won four of their last five. Indiana was on a roll heading into the game, winning five of six since the All-Star break.

"We did a good enough job moving but ball. I thought we had a lot of open shots, but we missed them," Indiana coach Brian Winters said. "We got it back down to a manageable level with four or five minutes left, but we didn't have enough left in the tank to get it done."