“The win (is) the most important thing. We have to get to Atlanta and get another one,” Liberty coach Sandy Brondello insisted following Tuesday night’s 88-75 triumph in Chicago in the opener of this three-game road trip.
New York (8-2) has already matched the best 10-game start in franchise history, equaling the mark it estabished during the WNBA’s inaugural 1997 campaign.
By winning their first two games of June’s five-game Commissioner’s Cup schedule, the Liberty stand alone atop the Eastern Conference with a 2-0 mark and a league-leading plus-49 point differential in those contests.
“We’re not too high, too low. We just trust each other,” revealed reigning WNBA Most Valuable Player Breanna Stewart when assessing her team’s hot start.
Though they have an epic showdown looming against league-leading and still-unbeaten Connecticut (9-0) Saturday, the Liberty have thrived on worrying about the opponent in front of them game after game.
On Tuesday, they trailed the Sky by one point entering the final period of a rugged game that featured 39 personal fouls, and the eventual ejection of Chicago rookie sensation Angel Reese.
Rather than bow to the pressure of three grueling quarters on the road, New York instead burst out of the fourth-quarter gate with a 15-2 run that settled matters.
Stewart posted season highs of 33 points and 14 rebounds and fellow All-Star Sabrina Ionescu added 24 points and seven boards as the Liberty outscored the Sky, 23-9, in the final period.
“Our zone really helped us (in the fourth quarter),” Brondello said. “We contained (the posts) well when we changed the defense. And when we can score, we can help the defense get set.”
The dynamic duo of Stewart and Ionescu combined for 12 points during the last 10 minutes.
“I’ve always prided myself on able to get in there and rebound,” noted Ionescu. “We were playing against a really good rebounding team, and so I knew my opportunity was going to be to go in…
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