It was particularly tough but the New York Liberty finally won their second match against the Washington Mystics (90-85), after overtime. As the first round is played in the best of three matches in the WNBA, Marine Johannès and her teammates advance to the semi-finals of the playoffs!
In a match marked by a lot of defensive pressure and a lot of clumsiness (4/23 at 3-points for New York…), the Liberty initially took the lead, taking up to 11 points in advance (46 -35) at halftime.
Except that Breanna Stewart, Sabrina Ionescu and company hardly made a shot in the third quarter, won 21-13 by Washington. Natasha Cloud (33 points, 9 assists, 6 rebounds and 4 steals) even allowed the Mystics to take a six-point lead (65-71) four minutes from the end of the game…
Things then seemed to be off to a very bad start for New York, but Courtney Vandersloot put the house in order, serving Betnijah Laney for a 3-pointer then Jonquel Jones for a layup.
A breathtaking end to the match
A new serve for Breanna Stewart and Liberty regained control of the match (71-74) in the last minute. Jonquel Jones’ block on Natasha Cloud could have sealed the deal, except that the ball fell into the hands of Brittney Sykes, who equalized behind the 3-point line!
The two teams then went into overtime (76-76), the Mystics trying to press on a clumsy Elena Delle Donne (11 points at 4/16) while Jonquel Jones (19 points, 14 rebounds) scored the decisive layup.
Final victory therefore for the New York Liberty (90-85) who will face the Connecticut Sun or the Minnesota Lynx in the semi-final. Note that Marine Johannès, as in the first match of the series, was hardly used by Sandy Brondello. The Frenchwoman only played four minutes, enough time to miss a small shot.
