The New York Liberty looked a little lost en route to a Game 1 loss to Connecticut at Downtown’s Barclays Center Sunday. AP Photo by Eduardo Munoz Alvarez
A season that was billowing with promise is on the brink of going up in smoke for the New York Liberty if they can’t find a way to get past the Connecticut Sun Tuesday night in Game 2 of the WNBA semifinals at Downtown’s Barclays Center.
“That was the worst game of the season,” Liberty coach Sandy Brondello ceded after Sunday afternoon’s sobering 78-63 Game 1 loss to visiting Connecticut in front of 9,442 deflated fans on the corner of Atlantic and Flatbush.
“We have great players and we’ll respond,” Brondello insisted.
They’ll have to overcome their lowest-scoring game of the season, Associated Press Player of the Year Breanna Stewart’s 7-of-25 shooting performance, including an 0-for-8 effort from 3-point range, and a losing battle along the boards.
“They are such an offensive juggernaut, we had to make things as difficult as possible and I think our team took ownership of that today,” said Connecticut coach Stephanie White.
The Sun (1-0) got 20 points from DeWanna Bonner and 18 out of former Liberty guard Rebecca Allen to open their fifth straight appearance in the best-of-5 semifinals with a win that put the Liberty (0-1) on the brink of going back to Connecticut in an 0-2 hole.
“They were being aggressive. I don’t think we handled it well, we didn’t stay poised and composed,” said Stewart, who finished with a team-high 19 points.
Former Sun forward Jonquel Jones had 14 points and 11 rebounds and Sabrina Ionescu added 12 points with a quartet of 3-pointers though she missed the rest of her 10 field-goal attempts.
Connecticut trailed by three points at halftime but used a 16-2 spurt after intermission to go ahead to stay, 53-42.
The…
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