With Sabrina Ionescu out, Breanna Stewart struggles in Liberty loss to Dream

Sabrina Ionescu turned Friday night into a nightmare for the Dream in Atlanta, filling up the baskets with eight threes and 37 points, career highs for her four years in the WNBA. 

But after scoring 106 and winning by 23, the Liberty couldn’t turn to her in their bid to take Tuesday’s night rematch, too.

The 2022 All-Star guard sat out the game at Barclays Center because of a left hamstring issue.   

It was much harder without Ionescu and with the great Breanna Stewart having a not-so-great 1-for-14 shooting night.

The Dream walked off with an 86-79 win, snapping a three-game skid.

Marine Johannes started for Ionescu and led the Liberty (6-3) with 18 points. Betnijah Laney added 17. Stewart finished with 12. Allisha Gray had 16 to top six double-figure scorers for Atlanta (3-5), which had a 16-8 edge in second-chance points and turned 14 turnovers in 21 points.

“Offensive rebounding and turnovers, I think that was really the Achilles’ heel for us tonight,” coach Sandy Brondello said. “But credit to Atlanta. They wanted it more.”

Ionescu had said she started feeling hamstring tightness during the victory May 30 at Seattle. But she played the next four games prior to Tuesday night. She revealed the problem after the second game but said she was feeling better.

Before this latest game, though, Brondello said Ionescu’s problem is “in the other leg” now and indicated it’s minor. Brondello said that Ionescu missing this game was “precautionary,” and that the decision was made in light of the fact that the team doesn’t play again until Sunday.

“She’s not injured,” Brondello said. “Give her a few days off and hopefully that will do the trick, because we want Sabrina to feel 100%. We know when she’s not. We saw that at the start of last year when she carried a calf injury. It wasn’t good for her or for us.”

Her absence wasn’t good for Stewart.

“Without Sabrina — that’s another playmaker and shooter for us — they put a lot of attention on Stewie,” Brondello said.

Or as Johannes said, “We have to find a way to play better around Stewie and help her.”

Hayley Jones hit a right-wing three at the third-quarter buzzer to tie the score for the Dream at 60-all. That began a 17-3 run that gave them a 74-63 advantage with 5:38 left.

The margin was still 11 with 5:05 remaining, and then the Liberty made a run, slicing it to 80-77 with 1:19 to go. Monique Billings then made two free throws for Atlanta. Johannes countered with a long jumper.

But Johannes committed a foul on Gray far from the basket with two seconds on the shot clock. Gray buried two free throws for an 84-79 lead with 42.2 seconds on the clock, then two more with 35.4 left to set the final score.

The Liberty had owned a 46-41 lead at the break, but it wasn’t their night.

“We just didn’t make enough shots tonight,” Courtney Vandersloot said. “It happens.”