The Liberty stay ahead of the pack with a key win over the Minnesota Lynx
As the WNBA season heads toward the Olympic break, the New York Liberty sit atop the WNBA standings with a record of 17-3. It is the Liberty’s best start to a season in franchise history.
After a disappointing loss in the Minnesota Lynx in the Commissioner’s Cup, the Liberty returned to action on Sunday against the Atlanta Dream, coming away with an 81–75 home win at the Barclays Center. On Tuesday, the Liberty avenged their loss to the Lynx a week earlier with a blistering fourth quarter, ending the game on a 15-2 run, for a 76-67 victory.
Liberty forward Jonquel Jones scored a game-high 21 points and added 12 rebounds. Afterwards, the 2021 league MVP was named to the WNBA All-Star team that will face the Team USA Olympic squad on July 20 in Phoenix, Arizona. Olympians Breanna Stewart (her third selection) posted a strong double-double of 17 points and 17 rebounds, and point guard Sabrina Ionescu (her first Olympics appearance) registered a stat line of 17 points, five assists and five rebounds.
“This was personal,” said Ionescu, who helped keep head coach Sandy Brondello’s group ahead of the 15-4 Connecticut Sun and 14-5 Lynx, which face each other tonight.
“Obviously, they’re a great team. They were 2–0 against us. This was a bigger game than it really was in terms of it being a regular season game. We had to understand that.”
In the win over the Dream, Stewart became the fastest player in WNBA history to surpass 5,000 points (242 games). “It’s a cool honor, for sure,” acknowledged the 6 ‘4” UConn alum, who played for the Seattle Storm for six seasons (2016-2022) before signing with the Liberty in February 2023.
“I wouldn’t be able to be here and do all the things without my teammates and I really appreciate them setting me up to get to this point, but we’re trying to do more than just get accolades,” said the 29-year-old reigning WNBA MVP.
The Liberty take on Caitlin Clark and Indiana Fever on the road this Saturday (1:00 p.m., CBS) and then have a morning matinee (11 a.m.) versus the Connecticut Sun next Wednesday. They will follow up those games with a July 11 game at home against the Chicago Sky, the Sky again on July 13 on the road, and July 16 hosting the Sun at the Barclays before the All-Star game and a month-long league pause for the Olympics.
Clark and the Sky’s Angel Reese, whose intense and highly followed rivalry goes back to the 2023 college season when Reese and LSU defeated Iowa, led by Clark, in the NCAA women’s Division I championship, will now be teammates on the WNBA All-Star team as named by the league on Tuesday.
Reese, a 6’3” power forward, and Clark, a 6’0” point guard, are continuing their competitive battle as leading candidates for WNBA Rookie of the Year honors.
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