In a repeat of last season's semi-finals, the New York Liberty took advantage of an exceptional fourth quarter to inflict their first defeat of the season on the Connecticut Sun (82-75). Despite the absence of playmaker Courtney Vandersloot, Sabrina Ionescu's teammates (24 points) signed a 6th victory in a row, and they equal the best start to the season in the history of the franchise with 10 victories in 12 matches. A success which allows him to validate his status as number 1 for the Commissioner Cup.
“We were aware that it was an important match for us, a match to assert ourselves, because they were undefeated. It’s huge for the Commissioner Cup,” underlines Sabrina Ionescu, involved in 18 points for her team in the fourth quarter. “Even though the game looked ugly, even though it was disjointed at times, we stayed calm and played our style of basketball.”
New York took a 12-point lead in the first quarter before letting the Sun come back to score, even to the point of going ahead by 7 points in the 3rd quarter. Without panicking, Liberty took control of the game again, to make the difference in the last eight minutes.
Jonquel Jones hurts a lot
“The chemistry we built last year and the experiences we had help us today”insists Sandy Brondello, the Liberty coach. “We stabilized, our defense went to another level. I think our relationship even goes to another level, regardless of what happens in the other quarters. We reached a new level and I think that’s the ability that really good teams have.”
Next to Ionescu, Jonquel Jones really hurt his former partners with 22 points, 8 rebounds, 5 assists and 4 blocks! According to ESPN, the Sun players shot 1 out of 16 against Jones! For the Sun, it is therefore a first defeat after starting the season with nine victories in a row. It should be remembered that Connecticut had still not faced Liberty or the Las Vegas Aces.
“I don’t think we had in mind the idea of finishing the season undefeated,” assures Stephanie Whitethe coach from Connecticut. “We'll take a step back and watch the videos… We'll see where we fell short. We'll take care of them, we'll fix them and we'll move forward to be better against Indiana. I'm not worried about this team. This is a group of veterans. They are aware of the ups and downs of a championship. Ultimately, when you play against great teams, it's consistency over 40 minutes that counts. It's relentless work for 40 minutes. It’s discipline for 40 minutes. Details for 40 minutes. It's the effort on many levels for 40 minutes, and we couldn't put together 40 minutes tonight and they did it. »
