The wins carry on rolling for the undefeated Liberty.
The defending champions proceed to indicate no hangover after dominating the rebuilding Chicago Sky, 85-66, Tuesday night time at Barclays Middle.
And the win now places New York 3-0 in Commissioner’s Cup standings with hopes of touchdown within the in-season title recreation for a 3rd consecutive 12 months.
Sandy Brondello didn’t even want the providers of Jonquel Jones, who missed her first recreation of the season attributable to an ankle damage.
“She’s not quite there, and we’re always about making sure the players ready to come back and close to 100 percent as possible,” Brondello stated pregame of Jones, who averted any critical damage after hurting her proper ankle final Thursday in Washington. “So she’ll be day-to-day. She was on court today, so making progress.”
Nyara Sabally earned her first begin of her profession instead of Jones and the Liberty didn’t miss a step. Sabally scored the sport’s first factors and later grabbed an offensive rebound that led to a standard three-point play. The 5 factors contributed to a fast 10-0 run within the first 2:45 minutes of the sport.
Sabally made all 4 of her makes an attempt from the sector Tuesday in her first recreation again after lacking six video games attributable to a knee damage.
“She looked great. It was great to have her back there,” Brondello stated of Sabally, who completed with 9 factors, three rebounds, one help and one steal. “I think we can just build on that. She’s always consistent. Every time she gets minutes she’s just consistently great. She knows what she does and how she can help us.”
Sky head coach Tyler Marsh rapidly referred to as timeout to cease the early bleeding. However his crew continued to battle, turning the ball over 5 instances in as many minutes. The highway crew ultimately trailed by 11 whereas Sabrina Ionesucu and Breanna Stewart scored 10 and 9 factors, respectively, within the opening interval.
Ionescu later completed with 23 factors, seven assists and 4 steals whereas Stewart logged 18 factors, seven rebounds, 5 assists and two blocks.
The Sky seemed overmatched and struggled to create offense with out beginning guard Courtney Vandersloot. The previous Liberty champion will miss the remainder of the 2025 WNBA season after tearing her ACL in Saturday’s loss in opposition to the Indiana Fever.
On Tuesday, Vandersloot would’ve obtained her championship ring and tribute video — like Kayla Thornton did in her return final month — in entrance of the identical Barclays Middle crowd that cheered on the Liberty throughout final 12 months’s thrilling five-game WNBA Finals victory over the Lynx.
However after the devastating damage, homecoming celebrations have been placed on pause. So was Chicago’s offense within the loss.
The Liberty’s led, 52-32, at halftime.
They usually stored their foot on the fuel the remainder of the best way. The Liberty’s defensive stress is stifling and it solely will get worse with out an opposing guard to interrupt the purpose of assault.
The house crew received the third quarter, 18-10, because the Sky continued to unravel: Hailey Van Lith dribbled the ball off her leg out of bounds, Angel Reese appeared pissed off and bought referred to as for a midcourt flagrant foul that despatched Leonie Fiebich to the hardwood and Maddy Westbeld wasn’t on the identical web page together with her teammates as she despatched a cross straight out of bounds.
Ionescu’s 27-foot three-pointer on the 1:19 mark prolonged the result in 25 and primarily served because the dagger.
The fourth quarter was all beauty. The Liberty’s lead grew to as many as 34 factors. Brondello rested most of her starters for a majority of the ultimate interval.
Chicago’ Reese completed with a team-high 17 factors and 11 rebounds. Ariel Atkins (11 factors) was the one different Sky participant to attain in double-digits.
For the Libs, there’s nonetheless no indicators of a championship hangover after recreation No. 9. The defending champs will look to increase the streak Saturday on the highway in opposition to the Fever.
“We’ve spoken about it before we started the season,” Brondello stated of the crew’s present title protection. “We’ll celebrate that first [banner] game [and] our achievements from last year and then it’s last year. This is a whole new year. We’ve got new goals.”
Initially Revealed: June 10, 2025 at 10:06 PM EDT
