Liberty restart WNBA title drive in L.A.

Visit slumping Sparks following Olympic break

August 15, 2024 By John Torenli, Sports Editor Brooklyn Daily Eagle

After grabbing gold in Paris, Breanna Stewart and Sabrina Ionescu will re-start the Liberty's chase for the WNBA title in Los Angeles Thursday. AP Photo by Mary Altaffer

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Two are draped in gold, one brought home a historic bronze and a pair took their national team further than it had ever gone at the 2024 Paris Games.

But now, Team USA’s Sabrina Ionescu and Breanna Stewart, coach Sandy Brondello of Team Australia and Team Germany’s Leonie Fiebich and Nyara Sabally are back together again on the same squad with one common goal.

Delivering the first WNBA title in New York Liberty history to Downtown Brooklyn.

The well-decorated quintet and the rest of the league-leading Liberty will re-start their season Thursday night against the struggling Los Angeles Sparks at crypto.com Arena.

Ionescu and Stewart were part of Team USA’s eighth consecutive gold medal-winning squad in Paris, though it took a one-point win over host France that wasn’t decided until the final buzzer on Sunday.

“This is a program that has always sort of made it look easy. But I always said it’s not,” said a relieved Ionescu after her first Olympic experience.

Brondello’s Opals grabbed third place from Belgium with another narrow victory Sunday, returning to the Olympic podium for the first time since 2012.

Two days earlier, Australia got drubbed by the Americans with a chance to play in the gold-medal game, giving Ionescu and Stewart bragging rights over their coach in Brooklyn.

Fiebich and Sabally helped spearhead the first-ever German squad to compete in women’s basketball at the Games, and used a 2-1 record in group play to reach the quarterfinals before bowing out to the French.

None of that will matter come Thursday at 9 p.m. ET, when the Liberty (21-4) and Sparks (6-18) clash for the third time this season.

New York entered the month-long Olympic break on a four-game winning streak and had won nine of their previous 10 contests to climb 2 1/2 games clear of second-place Connecticut in the hunt for the top overall record in the best women’s basketball league in the world.

The Liberty made sure to distance themselves from the Sun in their pre-Olympic finale at Downtown’s Barclays Center, rolling to an 82-74 win behind 30 points from Ionescu, who clinched her second straight Eastern Conference Player of the Month award with the performance.

Dearica Hamby won a bronze medal in 3-on-3 basketball for Team USA in Pairs. Now, she’ll try to help the L.A. Sparks avenge a pair of early-season losses to the Liberty Thursday night. AP Photo by Frank Franklin II

Stewart, the reigning WNBA Most Valuable Player, sat out against the Sun to rest ahead of the Paris Games. New York announced earlier that day that starting forward Betnijah Laney-Hamilton underwent surgery on her right knee, an injury that will likely keep her out until September.

“To be 21-4 at this stage and have to overcome players sitting out and not being with the team, it allows players to step up,” Brondello noted prior to the break.

“Our chemistry continues to grow,” she added. “We’re still not where we need to be, but we’re on track. Hopefully we’ll hit the ground running when we come back. We still have a lot of basketball to play post-Olympics.”

Stewart averaged 16.3 points, 5.3 rebounds and 2.8 assists per game in Paris, earning a coveted spot on FIBA’s Olympic All-Star Five while grabbing her third consecutive gold medal.

She also experienced how close Team USA came to not winning its 61st consecutive game in Olympic competition dating to the 1992 Barcelona Games.

“The parity of women’s basketball is just only continuing to grow,” Stewart said after Sunday’s nail-biting win over France. “So I think, you know, we know it’s not easy.”

The Sparks will return to play four games behind Indiana and Chicago for the final two spots in the WNBA playoff chase.

Los Angeles has dropped 11 of its last 13 contests, including its pre-Olympic break 89-83 defeat to visiting Seattle.

Azura Stevens had 24 points and 15 rebounds for the Sparks, who will boast a returning bronze medal winner of their own in All-Star Dearica Hamby in their return to the WNBA hardwood.

Hamby helped Team USA to a third-place finish in 3-on-3 basketball in Paris.

“What an accomplishment for Dearica and the rest of the USA 3×3 team. Watching Dearica lead with her resiliency, grit, fire and toughness while competing with honor was so much fun,” Sparks general manager Raegan Pebley said.

“Dearica has yet again given us another reason to be proud to have her represent the Sparks organization.”

New York swept a two-game set from Los Angeles at Barclays Center from June 20-22, and has won the last seven meetings with the Sparks since an 84-74 defeat in Los Angeles on July 3, 2022.

Ionescu led the way for the Liberty in the opener in Brooklyn with 31 points and Stewart put up 33 and blocked a career high-tying six shots in the series finale.

After visiting Los Angeles Thursday, All-Star Jonquel Jones and the Liberty will visit defending two-time WNBA champion Las Vegas on Saturday. AP Photo by Frank Franklin II

GIVE ME LIBERTY: With Stewart back in the lineup Thursday after missing two games prior to the break, the Liberty will have to fill Laney-Hamilton’s starting spot. That could be Fiebich or Kennedy Burke, both of whom filled in admirably for the two missing starters against Chicago and Connecticut, respectively. Fiebich had 13 points and Burke added seven against the Sky on July 13 each had nine points in the pre-Olympic finale. … After visiting the Sparks, the Liberty will reboot their rivalry with the reigning two-time WNBA champion Las Vegas Aces on Saturday afternoon in Sin City. New York beat Vegas at Michelob ULTRA Arena in the first meeting since last year’s WNBA Finals on June 15, pulling out a 90-82 victory behind a career-high 34 points from All-Star Jonquel Jones.