New York Liberty escape Dallas Wings with ugly 79-71 win
Photo by Catalina Fragoso/NBAE via Getty Images
It didn’t come as easy as the first game Though Leonie Fiebich returned to the lineup, Sabrina Ionescu (neck) was still missing from the New York Liberty in the second game of their mini-series with the Dallas Wings at home, on the wrong end of a game-time decision for the second straight game.
On Tuesday, the Liberty won by 20 anyway, powered by a vintage Courtney Vandersloot performance and typical dominance from the Breanna Stewart + Jonquel Jones front-court. Those two combined for 49 points and 24 boards while being largely responsible for Dallas shooting just 10-of-28 in the paint, rendering all those Wings bigs ineffective.
But the Liberty would get none of that production in the rematch, a game in which the whirlwind energy brought home from the Olympians and maintained by constant travel and games out of the gate finally dipped. New York would have to win an ugly, sluggish game against an ugly, sluggish team in Dallas, who led 17-14 after the first quarter.
There were sparks, though. Nyara Sabally came off the bench and shined next to Jones in the front-court in the second quarter, which the Liberty opened on an 11-0 run. She couldn’t buy a bucket — often on the wrong end of an unfriendly whistle — but defended and rebounded admirably. And Jones was taking care of the scoring anyway, reeling off nine quick points to start the second.
JJ has gotten active pic.twitter.com/lIJm5aVHrK— Lucas Kaplan (@LucasKaplan_) August 22, 2024
But Jones soon exited after picking up her third foul, and New York was left searching for offense.
There was nothing inherently flawed in their approach; the Liberty finished the night with just ten turnovers and assisted on all but six of their made-field goals. Even with Ionescu and Betnijah Laney-Hamilton out, they still got up 29 threes, most reasonably open.
But little was falling. Kayla Thornton contributed 16 points in her familiar role as a spot-starter, but shot just 2-of-9 from deep. After making a layup to start the night, Stewart missed all but one of her next dozen shots. The bench shot a combined 3-of-18, Jones did not score again until a layup midway through the fourth quarter.
The Liberty sunk into a dogfight with the Wings, who got the bare minimum required of their offense to hang around. Unlike Monday, New York stayed attached to Satou Sabally, who scored ten points on a dozen shots, but Arike Ogunbowale, Teaira McCowen, and ex-Lib Natasha Howard also reached double-figures. It was an Ogunbowale and-1 that put Dallas on top 56-55 early in the final frame.
New York was in dire need of more sparks, and Sandy Brondello’s team got it on both the individual and team level. Undrafted rookie Jaylyn Sherrod, who’s been cut and re-signed three times by the Libs this season, electrified the crowd in her two stints on the Thursday.
this is a Jaylyn Sherrod sequence pic.twitter.com/v4VrDuPaJd— Lucas Kaplan (@LucasKaplan_) August 23, 2024
“It’s just a blessing,” said Sherrod. “I mean, two months ago, I wasn’t even here. It’s just staying ready and taking advantage of every opportunity.”
She filled the stat-sheet with 4/1/2/1/1 in her ten minutes, with teammates robbing her of some potential assists and a third-quarter buzzer-beater waved off. Sherrod was everywhere, an absolute blur at 5’7”, and put forth an effort Brondello made sure to shout out in postgame.
“I thought at both ends, she gave us what we needed. So I was really happy, and she’s ready to go. She’s a fierce competitor. I think everybody saw that today. ”
The team-wide spark was offensive rebounding, a battle which the Liberty won 17-8. They didn’t make a lot of shots, so they made sure they were going to get as many as possible. But unlike in their Saturday victory over the Las Vegas Aces, one woman didn’t carry the offensive rebounding effort. Jonquel Jones nabbed just one board on that end, while Thornton, Fiebich, and Stewart combined for ten, often crashing hard from the corners.
“That’s something that we focus on, we call it a crack-back,” said Brondello on the collective rebounding. “It’s a bad habit if the shot goes up and they’re just hanging out in the corners, so we’re trying to get opportunities that we could get on the glass.”
All the Liberty needed down the stretch was a dollop of shot-making, and they got it. Stewart made three of her final four shots, though the star of the final moments was Leonie Fiebich, who wound up with a 16/7/3/2/0 line seemingly out of nowhere...
Leonie Fiebich with a huge pick-six that might be the dagger: pic.twitter.com/qq10pL0ZAE— Lucas Kaplan (@LucasKaplan_) August 23, 2024
“Leo probably shouldn’t have played today,” said Brondello. “So I really want to highlight her. I mean, the toughness that she showed to get out there and play, and that was 16 points and seven rebounds and a great defensive effort. So that’s her commitment to the team.”
New York now sits at 25-4, and you don’t get there without winning in a variety of ways. Tonight was an essential test for a truly great team, a test that the Liberty have already passed plenty of times this season, but one you can never practice enough. The shots weren’t falling, bodies were banged up and/or missing. The Liberty weren’t going to steamroll the league’s worst team with overwhelming talent, but by digging deeper in the mud. And they did.
Said Breanna Stewart. “If we have to win ugly, we’ll win ugly. We just want to make sure we win.”
Final Score: New York Liberty 79, Dallas Wings 71
Photo by M. Anthony Nesmith/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
The New York Liberty can put overall home-court advantage nearly out of reach with a win in their next game, a date with the second-place Connecticut Sun in the Barclays Center. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. ET on Saturday night.
Boxscore: New York Liberty 79, Dallas Wings 71 - WNBA
Game Highlights: New York Liberty 79, Dallas Wings 71 (Video) - WNBA
Breanna Stewart, Jonquel Jones guide Liberty to 79-71 win over Wings for 8th straight victory - AP
Breanna Stewart digs deep to lift Liberty over Wings for eighth straight win - Zach Braziller - New York Post
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