Reserve center Nyara Sabally and the Liberty showed off their depth en route to grabbing the No. 1 seed in the WNBA playoffs Thursday in Washington, D.C. Photo by Brandon Todd/New York Liberty
Jonquel Jones knows the answer to all the New York Liberty’s questions are right within their own locker room.
“We all we got, we all we need!” has been the All-Star power forward’s rallying cry as she and her teammates await the postseason push toward this franchise’s first-ever WNBA title.
Jones and the Liberty took a key step in that direction Tuesday, using their depth and dominant work in the paint to finally grab the No. 1 overall seed in the upcoming playoffs with an 87-71 win over the Washington Mystics in front of 4,200 fans at Entertainment and Sports Arena.
New York (32-7) squandered its first opportunity to grab home-court advantage with Sunday’s humbling home loss to second-place Minnesota, a defeat that left the Liberty needing a win in our nation’s capital to secure top billing in the playoffs for the first time in team history.
“Getting back to it’s my play to our identity. Be pissed off with how we played in that last game,” New York coach Sandy Brondello revealed of her team’s attitude leading into its penultimate regular-season contest.
“It was a terrible game and Minnesota is a great team,” she added. “But we have to come in, we haven’t done anything yet and just reminding them that playoffs go to another level. So we’re capable, if we put our mind to it.”
The Liberty proved capable from the jump against the playoff-hopeful Mystics (13-26), who might see New York in the first round of the postseason for the second straight year come Sunday.
After Washington’s Julie Vanloo splashed a 3-pointer to open the scoring, Betnijah Laney-Hamilton answered with a pair of quick baskets to spark a 10-0 run that put New York ahead to stay.
Jones drained her first three shots on the way to seven first-quarter points.
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