UNCASVILLE, June 8, 2024 – There was a time when the New York Liberty couldn’t get a win against the Connecticut Sun. For four seasons, from 2018 to 2021, the Sun dominated the series, winning 10 of 11 games.
That situation has now been reversed.
With a dominant fourth-quarter performance, Liberty rallied to hand the Connecticut Sun its first loss of the season Saturday afternoon, 82-75, at Mohegan Sun Arena in front of a sellout crowd of 8,910 and a television audience. national on KeynoteUSA. .
In the final 8:30 of the game, the Liberty made 10 of 14 field goals from the floor, while the Sun made just four of 12 shots. New York finished the game on a 25-13 run with former Sun MVP Jonquel Jones making three career shots from three-point range and guard Sabrina Ionescu scoring or assisting on 18 of the shots. Liberty’s last 25 points.
Ionescu had 24 points and a game-high five assists, while Jones had 22 points, eight rebounds, five assists and four three-pointers.
New York (10-2) has won nine of its last 10 games against Connecticut since 2002. Liberty won all four regular-season games a year ago and won its playoff semifinal series, 3-1.
The Sun (9-1) had double-digit scoring from six players, led by DeWanna Bonner with 16 points and Brionna Jones with 13 points in a season-high 34 minutes. Alyssa Thomas, who will be named to the United States Olympic team for the upcoming Paris Olympics according to the University of Maryland, had 12 rebounds, seven assists and a game-high 10 points.
Connecticut built its 9-0 record on the backs of the league’s weakest teams. Only two of their nine wins came against teams with winning records through Saturday: Minnesota and Atlanta, and the Sun had four wins in games against Indiana (3-9) and Washington (0-11).
The Liberty was the type of team the Sun brought Ty Harris and Tiffany Mitchell to Connecticut to play against. They needed that additional scoring from the shooting guard position to complement the outstanding interior games of Bonner, Thomas and Brionna Jones.
“Any time you’re a team going for a championship, you have to look at the teams that were there last year and the year before that,” Sun coach Stephanie White said. “Our record against New York (last year) wasn’t very good. But we had our moments and opportunities in the games and we didn’t make it.
“We are still hunting New York and Las Vegas. “They are where we want to be.”
Midway through the third quarter, it looked like Connecticut was on its way to beating Liberty. A 12-5 run in the third quarter gave the Sun a seven-point lead, 54-47, and the surge was canceled by a Thomas steal and drive to the basket with 5:21 left in the third quarter.
Early in the fourth quarter, Connecticut led by five after DiJonai Carrington got a block on one end and Thomas finished with a drive to the basket for a 62-57 lead.
But New York, which played in the WNBA finals last year, did not fall apart. “We kept our composure and played our style of basketball,” Ionescu said. “It was a statement game. “No matter what adversity we face, we show that we can play against the best teams in the league.”
Jones hit a three-point shot with 7:43 left to tie the game at 62-62. Tied at 64, Ionescu scored on the baseline to put Liberty back in front before Thomas tied the game at 66 with a shot of his own toward the basket.
Leading by three, Jones hit another three-point shot with 3:25 remaining to increase Liberty’s lead to six, 74-68. The Sun cut the lead to two, 74-72, when Bonner grabbed his own rebound and scored with 2:55 left and Carrington drove to the basket for two points with 1:59 left.
Ionescu drove to the basket with 1:50 left to increase the lead to four, 76-72 before Harris cut it to one with a three-point shot with 1:33 left.
But Jones another three-pointer with 1:15 left and a 79-75 lead.
“She is very skilled. She has a post (position player) body and she has guard skills, so it’s really difficult (to guard Jones),” White said. “You have to choose your poison. She got loose at the three-point line. She adds a different dimension. When she is willing to score both in the paint and on the perimeter, it becomes much more difficult to stop her.”
League MVP Breanna Stewart had 13 points, seven rebounds and five assists for the Liberty, while Betnijah Laney-Hamilton scored 10 points. Starting point guard Courtney Vandersloot did not attend the game for personal reasons.
“They took advantage of every failure and mistake we had, whether it was offensive or defensive,” White said. “We got a little stagnant on the offensive end in the fourth quarter.”
The Sun got off to another slow start as New York scored the first eight points of the game and led 11-2 early in the first quarter. But the Sun played tough defense and got some key rebounds from Brionna Jones to fight back.
Connecticut went on a 12-0 run in the second quarter to turn a 10-point deficit into a two-point lead with Mitchell scoring five of his season-high 12 points in the run. Mitchell made 5 of 6 shots from the floor in the game.
With two three-point goals, Bonner moved into 10th all-time in WNBA history in three-point field goals with Nicole Powell (580).
Notable
New York finished without offensive rebounds, marking the first time in Liberty franchise history that a team has not grabbed an offensive rebound in a regular season game. This is also the first time in Connecticut Sun history that an opponent did not get any offensive rebounds in a regular season game.
With 16 points in the game, Bonner moved into ninth place all-time in scoring in Connecticut Sun history, passing Tina Charles. Bonner now has 2,249 points in a Sun uniform.
With 13 points in the game, Brionna Jones moved into 13th place all-time in scoring in Connecticut Sun history, passing Courtney Williams. Jones now has 1,785 career points.
The Sun forced the Liberty into 12 turnovers, scoring 13 points off of those mistakes. Connecticut outrebounded New York, 35-28.
With the win, New York will represent the Eastern Conference in the 2024 Commissioner’s Cup. Connecticut falls to 2-1 in Commissioner’s Cup games this season.
New York 82, Connecticut 75
In Uncasville
New York (82) Thornton 2-5 1-2 6, Stewart 5-11 2-2 13, Jones 9-14 0-0 22, Laney-Hamilton 4-8 2-2 10, Ionescu 8-16 6-6 24, Fiebich 3- 6 0-1 7, Dojkic 0-0 0-0 0, David 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 31-60 11-13 82
Connecticut (75) Bonner 4-14 6-6 16, Thomas 5-11 0-2 10, Jones 5-12 3-3 13, Carrington 5-10 2-2 12, Harris 5-16 0-1 11, Nelson Ododa 0-2 1-2 1, Mitchell 5-6 1-1 12, Banham 0-0 0-0 0, Burton 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 29-71 13-17 75
New York (10-2) 28 11 17 25 – 82
Connecticut (9-1) 18 21 21 15 – 75
Three point goals: New York 9-25 (Thornton 1-2, Stewart 1-3, Jones 4-7, Laney-Hamilton 0-3, Ionescu 2-6, Fiebich 1-4), Connecticut 4-16 (Bonner 2-6, Jones 0-1, Carrington 0-2, Harris 1-6, Mitchell 1-1). Att. 8910 (sold out)
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