Shepard, Wings soar over Liberty

Paige Bueckers and Azzi Fudd, the first overall picks in the last two WNBA Drafts, had the eyes of the Barclays Center on them Tuesday night.

But Dallas’ Jessica Shepard stole the show, as well as the game, from the New York Liberty.

The veteran forward put up 22 points, 12 rebounds and 11 assists to lift the Wings to an 88-77 victory over the Liberty in front of 17,532 fans.

Buoyed by their Commissioner’s Cup win over Vegas here last week and Friday night’s home triumph against league-leading Minnesota, New York (13-9) was eager to close out this homestand in style.

But the Wings (14-8) had plans of their own, beginning with running their offense through Shepard, who went 11-of-16 from the floor and posted her third triple-double of the campaign.

No other player in the league has registered one yet this year.

The 6-foot-4 Notre Dame alum also proved instrumental in spearheading Dallas’ game-changing 19-0 second-quarter run.

“This is a really hard team to play,” Liberty coach Chris DeMarco admitted. “For three quarters, we played them really well; that second quarter really got away from us.”

With the Liberty up by as many as six early in the period, she assisted on successive baskets by Aziah James, Alanna Smith and Bueckers to put the Wings ahead to stay, 26-25.

Shepard made a layup, fed Arike Ogunbowale for one and found Fudd driving the lane for another score before hitting a 7-foot floater to give Dallas a 45-29 cushion less than two minutes before intermission.

The Liberty roared back within five midway through the third quarter, but Shepard responded with a 13-footer to quell the comeback.

Bueckers, the reigning WNBA Rookie of the Year, finished with 15 points, seven boards and six assists.

Fudd added 13 points for the Wings, who won their third straight, improved to 2-0 vs. the Liberty this year and moved a full game ahead of New York for fourth place.

Bueckers and Fudd each had 24 points in a 91-76 win in Brooklyn on May 24, but Shepard’s fourth career triple-double proved lethal in the rematch.

All-Star starter Breanna Stewart backed up her 36-point effort against the Lynx by putting up 29 to go with nine rebounds.

“We’re a team that has to continue to be more aggressive,” she said. “We can’t wait until we’re down 17 to start doing that.”

Jonquel Jones backed up her All-Star selection earlier in the day with 17 points and 12 boards, but wasn’t exactly in a celebratory mood following the defeat.

“We gotta get stops,” she said. “Obviously, they do a really good job of locking things up. I think we can do a better job of executing.”

The third member of Brooklyn’s Big Three, Sabrina Ionescu, didn’t fare as well as the All-Star duo.

She did manage 14 points, all of which came in the second half. The four-time All-Star went scoreless on 0-for-7 shooting before the break as Dallas ran out to a 47-31 lead.

Ionescu finished 5-of-15 from the field, including 2-of-7 from long range, after amassing 43 points and 11 assists over her previous two games.

“They just went on a run. It wasn’t anything out of the ordinary. I don’t think we stopped the bleeding early enough,” Ionescu lamented.

The Liberty were without forward Satou Sabally for a fifth straight game as she continues to go through the league’s concussion protocol.

Starting forward Leonie Fiebich also sat with a foot injury for New York, which has lost five of its last seven regular-season contests. 

The Cup win, as big as it felt at the time, doesn’t count in the standings.

Dallas came in healthy and left feeling even better after outscoring New York 29-11 in the second quarter. 

“I feel like it was similar to the first game where they got loose in transition,” Rebekah Gardner, who started in place of Fiebich. “I feel like overall we played better defensively; it was just that second quarter.”

The dominant period was enough to kill the momentum generated by back-to-back home wins over the defending WNBA champions and league leaders.

The Liberty will embark on a four-game road trip, beginning Saturday afternoon in Minnesota.

The game will air nationally on ABC, with tip-off slated for 1 p.m.

GIVE ME LIBERTY:

Shepard tied Ionescu for the second-most triple-doubles in WNBA history. Phoenix guard and Liberty playoff nemesis Alyssa Thomas holds the league’s career mark with 19, including seven last year.

Liberty guards Pauline Astier and Rebecca Allen both left the game after taking elbows from Dallas players. Astier suffered an apparent nose injury, but DeMarco wouldn’t bite when asked if the officiating overlooked the severity of the blows.

The All-Star selection was the sixth of Jones’ career and second with New York. She will represent the Liberty alongside Stewart, who was named a starter last week for the league’s 22nd midseason classic, which will be held at the United Center in Chicago on July 25. “She deserves it every year,” Stewart said of Jones.

Forward Betnijah Laney-Hamilton, who hadn’t played since June 28 at Golden State, got in off the bench in Tuesday’s loss. She failed to score, going 0-for-5 from the field with one assist in 15 minutes.

After visiting the Lynx, the Liberty will travel to Toronto to take on former coach Sandy Brondello for the second time this season. New York beat the Tempo 97-82 in Brondello’s return to Brooklyn on June 3.