The defending champion Liberty are actually within the last push of the common season.
And it bought off to a very good begin following a 98-84 comeback victory towards the Indiana Fever Tuesday night time at Barclays Heart.
The Liberty trailed by as many as seven factors within the third quarter, then erased the deficit and led by one getting into the fourth following Breanna Stewart’s layup within the last seconds.
And it was Stewart who contributed six factors in a 10-4 run within the last 3:10 to finish the third.
From there, the Liberty started the fourth quarter on a 10-3 run within the first 4 minutes, capped by Jonquel Jones’ trey that put New York up 9.
Barclays Heart shortly erupted — like they did in throughout pregame introductions as Jones’ identify was known as for the primary time in a month.
“It felt great to be back out there,” mentioned Jones, who performed her first recreation since struggling an ankle harm on June 19. The star added “she had a lot of fun” and her conditioning stage is at an eight out of 10.
The house crowd went on to maintain cheering because the Libs received the ultimate interval, 29-17, whereas enhancing their regular-season document to 16-6.
Jones led the best way with 18 factors and 9 rebounds. Stewart logged 17 factors, six rebounds, three assists, three steals and a block.
It was sufficient to carry off Kelsey Mitchell’s 29-point efficiency on an evening Caitlin Clark missed as a consequence of a groin harm.
It was a win for the Liberty. And a win for Jones who regarded snug all through her 23 minutes of motion following a nine-game absence.
“It’s great. It’s a happy day. JJ is back,” head coach Sandy Brondello mentioned earlier than tip-off. “She’s worked really hard, excited to integrate her back into the team. In regard to minutes restrictions, there’s no minutes restrictions. She’s medically cleared, and she’s good to go, but we still want to be smart. She hasn’t played in quite some time and [we want to] build her up.”
Jones anchored the Liberty after halftime, recording eight factors within the third, together with a standard three-point play with Aliyah Boston draped over her that shortened the deficit to 1 on the 4:26 mark.
It helped her crew win the third quarter, 27-21. And the Liberty gained management of the sport within the fourth and by no means turned again.
Aiding within the comeback win was Leonie Fiebich, who completed with 17 factors, 5 rebounds, two assists and a steal.
Sabrina Ionescu, who returned dwelling after profitable the three-point contest, caught hearth in the long run and completed with 13 factors on 5-of-15 taking pictures. She tallied 11 factors, together with three made treys within the last 5:30 of regulation to place the Fever to mattress.
Regardless of Ionescu’s poor begin, Brondello mentioned she advised the guard to “stay ready. I was always going to go back to her.”
Identical to that, a recreation that the Fever regarded to regulate with tempo and dribble penetration changed into a double-digit loss.
The Fever led by two going into halftime and later stretched it to eight within the third interval. However enjoying a wholesome Liberty crew with out Clark proved to be too tall of a problem.
The win offers Brondello’s crew a 3-1 regular-season collection win over Indiana.
The Liberty will likely be again in motion Friday at dwelling towards the Phoenix Mercury. The Fever will now return dwelling to face the Las Vegas Aces on Thursday.
Initially Revealed: July 22, 2025 at 8:04 PM EDT
