BROOKLYN-No matter what happens this football season, the tri-state area has swept at least a couple of Dallas teams thanks to the New York Liberty.
Again without Sabrina Ionescu and Betnijah Laney-Hamilton, the Liberty held off an onslaught from the Dallas Wings, winning 79-71 at Barclays Center on Thursday night. The victory, the team’s eighth straight, came two nights after the Liberty (25-4) beat Dallas by 20 points in the final.
Breanna Stewart led the way with 19 points while Jonquel Jones had a double-double with 13 points and rebounds. It was Jones’ 90th career double-double and her 11th this season, as New York maintains a perfect record when reaching those milestones.
On Thursday, Liberty had one of the ugliest wins of the season, as the shorthanded group struggled to find a rhythm: New York shot 26.9 percent (5 of 19) from the field en route to just 14 points in the first half, a point further marred by Kayla Thornton’s quick retreat to the hosts’ locker room after taking an inadvertent elbow.
The Liberty responded in the second half by scoring five of their first six tries, but they also turned over five possessions as part of an 11-game losing night that gave Dallas 11 points. A 5-of-5 from Jones and Kennedy Burke was enough to build a slim halftime lead, and sanity appeared to be restored when New York quickly jumped out to an eight-point lead early in the third quarter.
Dallas responded with an 8-0 run, however, and the lead/deficit never again exceeded two possessions until the third in the final minute. While its regular players struggled, New York relied on two rookies to stabilize the scoreboard.
Leonie Fiebich, who left Tuesday’s game with a rib injury, ended up scoring 16 points, including the de facto go-ahead 3-pointer with 1:15 left. Fiebich got most of her points on a quartet of triples, giving her 37 for the season. That’s good for third in Liberty rookie history, as she’s now tied with Kia Nurse and Michaela Onyenwere.
But the real star was Jaylyn Sherrod, an undrafted freshman playing on her third and final seven-day contract. Sherrod got the first meaningful minutes of her career and took full advantage with strong facilitating and penetration. Her two points drew the loudest cheers of the night, as she turned a Nyara Sabally steal into a coast-to-coast fast break. Sherrod nearly scored two more, but her shot at the third-quarter buzzer was ruled a shot clock violation.
Despite a respectable effort, Dallas (6-22) was doomed to its third straight loss. All-Star MVP Arike Ogunbowale narrowly missed a triple-double with two assists and four rebounds while leading the Wings with 19 points. The two teams will have two more next month, this time in North Texas on Sept. 10-12.
Meanwhile, the Liberty face a tough challenge Saturday, when a three-game homestand concludes against the Connecticut Sun (7 p.m. ET, WWOR). Connecticut is four games back of New York for the top spot in the WNBA playoff picture before hosting Chicago on Friday.
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