Sabrina Ionescu helps Liberty romp past Aces in potential WNBA Finals preview
The game came with huge hype as a possible preview of the WNBA Finals, a nationally televised Sunday matinee at Barclays Center between the teams with the best two records in the league, the top-shelf Las Vegas Aces and the Liberty.
The Aces arrived having won 24 of their 26 games. This was really a test for the Liberty to see how much they had improved and where they stood against the defending champs after flunking the first test, falling in Vegas by 17 on June 29.
OK, consider the Liberty very improved.
They took charge after the intermission, scoring 50 points and yielding only 17. Their lead grew to 42 in the fourth quarter.
So the Liberty made a loud statement, handing Las Vegas its largest loss in franchise history, 99-61, in front of their largest crowd ever at Barclays — 11,418.
“They got us at their place pretty good and we wanted to make sure we came in ready,” Sabrina Ionescu said after hitting six of the Liberty’s 17 three-pointers and scoring 31 points.
“We are able to show our fans but also ourselves the improvement that we’ve had over the last couple of months since we’d last seen them.”
The sold-out house saw the Liberty win their fourth straight and move to 22-6, including 12-2 since they lost to Las Vegas, 98-81.
This time they finished with a 48-24 rebounding advantage, allowing only two on the offensive glass.
“This is not the same team we faced in June,” Aces coach Becky Hammon said.
The Aces were missing forward/center Candace Parker, who’s sidelined because of foot surgery, but had gone 8-0 without her.
Jackie Young paced Las Vegas with 16 points. The Liberty held 2022 MVP A’ja Wilson to 2-for-14 shooting and nine points.
“I think the statement that we made is we’re a team that plays hard,” said Breanna Stewart, who scored 18 of her 23 in the second half. “Especially when we’re locked in and all on the same page defensively and offensively, it’s hard to stop.”
The Liberty led 49-44 at halftime. Then they floored it, outscoring Las Vegas 30-9 in the next 10 minutes.
It began with a 15-2 run. Betnijah Laney capped the burst with a three that made it 64-46.
Laney hit another three, putting the Liberty up by 23. Jonquel Jones, who had 12 points and 14 rebounds, converted a layup late in the third for a 79-53 advantage.
“For us, it’s just a wake-up call for how good we can actually be,” Ionescu said.
Ionescu showed how good she can be by scoring 17 of her 23 first-half points in the second quarter. Her fifth three-pointer of the period gave the Liberty a 49-41 lead in the final minute.
This was the first of the teams’ four meetings this month, including the Commissioner’s Cup title game Aug. 15 on Las Vegas’ home court.
“We didn’t win a championship today,” Liberty coach Sandy Brondello said. “We played a really good game. So I’m really, really happy. But Vegas is great. They just had a bad night.”
Notes & quotes: The Liberty will donate $500 for each of Courtney Vandersloot’s six assists in the game to the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation, so the tab came to $3,000. They will donate $100 for each of her assists during home games for the rest of the regular season.
Vandersloot’s mom was diagnosed with the disease about a year ago.
“When I was going through free agency and I was meeting with New York, it was big on them to really promise they would support me in any way that they wanted,” Vandersloot said.
“I think this is them stepping up in huge ways for something that’s so important to me and specifically my mom and the whole community.”