Sabrina Ionescu's 31 leads Liberty past Sparks

Standing on the court around 90 minutes before tipoff, Sandy Brondello could not qualify exactly how much growth her team has experienced in this season.

Still she was adamant: They had grown. They are growing. 

And shortly thereafter, the Liberty provided certain proof by routing the Los Angeles Sparks, 102-73, Tuesday night at Barclays Center. The Liberty (12-18) have won two straight and three-out-of-their-last four games.

 Said Natasha Howard, after recording her fifth straight double double with 24 points and 11 rebounds: “We [are] clicking.”

Yeah. You could say that.

Against the Sparks, it was a complete effort from start to finish as Sabrina Ionescu scored a game-high 31 points in three quarters, and reserves Han Xu had 13 points and Marine Johannes finished with 12.

“We all know the importance of having a great bench,” Ionescu said.

Entering the game, there were 12 days remaining in the regular season and both the 11th-overall Liberty and 8th-overall Sparks (12-18) were jockeying for playoff position as both are among the six teams battling for the sixth, seventh, and eighth seeds in the upcoming WNBA playoffs.

Which by itself made the game significant. But adding to its importance was the inconvenient truth that the Liberty had been outclassed by the Sparks in the first meeting of the season, an 84-74 loss in Los Angeles on July 3. During her pre-game availability with reporters, Brondello said she believed her team had improved since that game.

Over the course of 40 minutes, the Liberty showed that they had. The Liberty were the aggressors in all facets of the game. Defensively, the Liberty held the Sparks to 41.3% shooting from the field and 12.5% from 3, as well as out-rebounding Los Angeles 39-26.

Offensively, the Liberty made 37-of-64 shots from the field (57.8%), including 11-of-26 from three-point range (42.3%) 

Perhaps the best illustration of the Liberty’s newfound toughness occurred with 3:13 left in the third quarter. Howard missed the second of two free throws, only for Sami Whitcomb to tap the loose ball to Ionescu, who drove the lane and converted a floater as she was fouled. She then walked to half court doing the double bicep pose. 

“We let them do what they had to do,” Ionescu said, “and we stuck to what works for us.”

Ionescu’s spotlight moment highlighted a third quarter in which the Liberty put the game away, as they turned an 12-point halftime lead (53-41) into an 82-56 advantage entering the fourth. 

The 26-point lead allowed Brondello to empty her bench, which could pay dividends as the teams will conclude the back-to-back and the regular season series Wednesday night in Brooklyn.

“They did a huge job,” Ionescu said of the bench play. “A great job.” 

The Liberty debuted their new secondary court for the game in front of a crowd of 4,891 which included New York Governor Kathy Hochul, “Good Morning America” anchor Robin Roberts, and Nets guard Ben Simmons.