Sabrina Ionescu of the New York Liberty enhanced her reputation as one of the stars of the WNBA after another stellar display against Eastern Conference leaders, the Connecticut Sun. Ionescu was in superb form on Saturday afternoon on a hugely frustrating day for Connecticut, whose nine-match winning run at the start of the campaign came to an end.
Sabrina Ionescu starred for the New York Liberty by scoring 24 points to end the Connecticut Sun’s unbeaten start to the season.
Ionescu also managed to achieve a superb individual milestone, after managing to reach 300 successful 3-point shots – the fastest rate of any player in WNBA history.
On the subject of milestones, Connecticut made the fourth-best start to a season without a loss in WNBA history after winning their opening nine games, but that run was halted after an 82-75 defeat in Uncasville.
Jonquel Jones, Breanna Stewart and Betnijah Laney-Hamilton also made telling impacts for New York after amassing 22, 13 and 10 points respectively, as the Liberty scored the last six points of the match to seal the win.
DeWanna Bonner did her best to turn the tide of the match in Connecticut’s favour with 16 points, while there were also sizeable contributions from Brionna Jones and DiJonai Carrington, who amassed 13 and 12 points respectively.
Tyasha Harris also had 11 points to her name, while Alyssa Thomas got 10 points and 12 rebounds to cap off a steady display.
New York were looking more likely to secure the victory, until the Sun took a 62-57 lead heading into the fourth quarter, which served as a wake-up call for the Liberty.
The visitors would score the next seven points and Connecticut would not recover, and their ability to grind out results in recent weeks had appeared to desert them.
The Sun had already won four games by four points or fewer this season – including one in overtime – but Liberty would go onto to take the win, and make it quite comprehensive in the end.
The result leaves Liberty clipping at the heels of Connecticut in second place with 10 wins and two defeats from their 12 games to date.
Meanwhile, Connecticut lead the way with nine wins and one defeat from 10 games to lead the Eastern Conference.
They are back in action on Monday evening against the Indiana Fever, while the Liberty have a quick turnaround and host the the Washington Mystics on Sunday.
The Atlanta Dream were 89-80 winners over Chicago Sky on Saturday evening. The Dream set the tone with a 29-15 lead in the first quarter and from that point were never behind.
There was a notable clash between Angel Reese and Naz Hillmon, as the Chicago Sky player’s team trailed 78-75 after the Dream’s Hilmon blocked her chance to shoot.
The two appeared to exchange words, but it was not enough to stop Reese top-scoring with 13 points, with Kamilla Cardoso and Dana Evans adding the same amount.
The win moves the Dream to a winning 5-4 record while the Sky are 4-6.
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