Liberty aim to win third straight in Indy

Hope to continue recent resurgence prior to All-Star break

July 8, 2021 John Torenli, Sports Editor

Getting healthier and contributing more each game, Sabrina Ionescu has been one of the key elements to the Brooklyn-based Liberty's season thus far. AP Photo by Eileen T. Meslar

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The New York Liberty have experienced the full range of the WNBA experience during the season’s nominal first half.

And then some.

They opened red-hot, cooled off for a month, saw their transformational point guard suffer an ankle injury that threatened to derail her season for the second straight year and also witnessed the emergence of their lone All-Star and a Rookie of the Year front-runner.

All of the above has resulted in a 10-9 record and the sixth spot in the ongoing WNBA playoff race.

Heady stuff for a team that finished a league-worst 2-20 last summer at the league’s bubble site in Bradenton, Florida after then-rookie Sabrina Ionescu went down with a season-ending Grade 3 sprain of her left ankle.

But the Liberty, who have two games remaining before breaking for both the annual All-Star break and the Olympics, aren’t satisfied with climbing out of the cellar.

They are determined to be in the mix for their first-ever WNBA title come the next two months, and the only way to do that is to build on what they’ve done thus far.

Winners of two straight for the first time since May due to their recent homestand, the Liberty will be in Indiana on Friday night trying to complete their first three-game winning streak since stunning the league with a perfect 3-0 mark to start the campaign.

New York is coming off Monday night’s 99-96 win over Dallas at Downtown’s Barclays Center, a contest that saw sharp-shooter Sami Whitcomb put up 26 points and newly anointed All-Star Betnijah Laney add 18 points in the narrow victory.

Perhaps most heartening from the win was the re-emergence of Ionescu, who has again been limited of late due to
tendinitis in the same ankle that derailed her first year in the pros.

The two-time Wooden Award winner as the best college player in the nation at the Univesity of Oregon had 13 points and a season high-tying 12 assists in Monday’s win after putting up 15 points, five boards and five helpers in Saturday’s come-from-behind win over Washington last Saturday.

“She was big for us down the stretch. That was vintage Sabrina,” Liberty head coach Walt Hopkins said of his quarterback on the hardwood.

“Had to manage her minutes or she would have played a lot more.”

Fortunately for Hopkins, he hasn’t had to worry about Whitcomb or Laney, both of whom have been instrumental in the Liberty’s re-emergence since a disappointing 3-8 follow-up to their surprising start.

Rookie sensation Michaela Onyenwere has complemented the Liberty’s roster and made a name for herself as a player to be reckoned with in 2021. AP Photo by Adam Hunger

The duo, both of whom should be representing Downtown Brooklyn during All-Star weekend, according to Laney, have led the team in either scoring or rebounding in each of the past four contests.

”She should definitely be a part of (the 3-Point Shootout during All-Star weekend),” Laney said of Whitcomb.

“Her shot speaks for herself. If you look at her 3-point shooting, she’s over 50 percent. If she’s not in the [3-point] contest, I’d be really surprised.”

Adding Rookie of the Year front-runner Michaela Onyenwere’s contributions to the mix has also helped to steady the Liberty after they lost veteran forward Natasha Howard to a knee injury in the season’s first month.

If Howard can return after the break and Ionescu continues to build on her workload, the Liberty might find themselves back in the lofty heights shared by Seattle (15-4), Las Vegas (14-5) and Connecticut (12-6).

New York will follow Friday’s game in Indiana by hosting Connecticut at Barclays on Sunday at 2 p.m.

After that, they’ll get more than a month off before reconvening for the stretch run on Aug. 15 at Minnesota.

New York head coach Walt Hopkins go from the cellar to playoff contenders this year in Downtown Brooklyn. AP Photo by Phelan M. Ebenhack

GIVE ME LIBERTY: Monday’s win over Dallas in Brooklyn was the 400th in franchise history for the Liberty, who were one of the league’s founding members in 1997. … New York opened the year with consecutive victories over Indiana, 90-87 in Brooklyn on May 14 and a 73-65 triumph in Indiana two days later. This will be their third and final regular-season meeting vs. the Fever, who are dead last in the league standings with a 2-16 mark.