Stewart, Vandersloot Dim Sun, Guide Liberty to 2nd Win
NEW YORK-Perhaps the world should've known how a weekend showdown between an unbeaten team from New England and a blue-tinted conteender associated with New York City was going to go.
The New York Liberty were more than happy to repeat history on Saturday afternoon at Barclays Center, cutting down the Connecticut Sun by an 81-65 final. New York's second straight win after a loss on opening night took down one of the three remaining undefeated teams on the WNBA ledger.
Breanna Stewart fell well short of the record-breaking 45 points she had in her Brooklyn debut but nonetheless came up big to the tune of 21 points (15 in the second half) and six steals (all but one over the latter 20). Courtney Vandersloot picked up an 18-point, 10-assist double-double while hitting 7-of-10 from the field and Sabrina Ionescu added 17 more for the triumphant Liberty (2-1).
Back in action after five days, New York fell behind early, unable to counter an early outside attack and suffocating defense from the Sun. The Liberty lost six turnovers over the first dozen-plus minutes, which yielded 10 Connecticut points and partly made up both a first-quarter and halftime deficit. Long professing a loyalty to the deep game, the Liberty tried only six attempts from three-point range in the first half, primarily relying on points in the paint (winning that battle 26-12 en route to trailing 38-32 at the break).
New York managed to break the game open by carrying their dominant defensive effort from the second quarter: after scoring 23 in the opening frame, Connecticut failed to break past 15 over the latter trio. Another telling number in the defensive lockdown was the Liberty's plus-19 advantage when reserve Kayla Thornton was on the floor, part of a united bench effort that also featured four assists from Stef Dolson and six points and three boards for rookie Nyara Sabally, who made her WNBA debut after missing all of last season. Thornton was also one of three New Yorkers (joining Ionescu and Vandresloot) to pulling at least four rebounds during second half action.
Stewart, of course, continued her early take over of the New York lineup, breaking away from Connecticut's early shutdown of her passing lanes. While her box score paled in comparison to last weekend's historic effort, Stewart managed to cause further adjustments to the Liberty's record book: by scoring 78 points through her first three games, no has scored more in her first trio in seafoam than Stewart while she set an overall team record for most combined points in consecutive contests with 66 (passing Cappie Pondexter),
Tiffany Hayes paced the Sun with 16 points, as Connecticut (3-1) dropped the first meeting between the two teams since an offseason trade sent lauded interior threat Jonquel Jones to Brooklyn. Jones dealt with foul trouble for most of the game but put in seven points and a block in the win. Having built their strong start through familiar faces, Connecticut's regular struggled from the field, as Thornton's crackdown was part of an effort that saw DeWanna Bonner, Natasha Hiedeman, and Alyssa Thomas hit only 12-of-35 combined.
Saturday's game also marked former long-tenured Bec Allen's return to Brooklyn after the eight-year veteran was involved in the three-team trade that brought both Jones and Thornton (from Dallas) to New York. Allen had two points and an assist in 15 minutes off the bench in defeat.
The Liberty now hit the road for two games, beginning with a Tuesday night trek to the Pacific Northwest to battle the Seattle Storm (9 p.m. ET, ESPN2). It'll serve as a homecoming for Stewart, who spent the first seven seasons of her career in Seattle, a historic tenure that landed two WNBA championship rings.
Geoff Magliocchetti is on Twitter @GeoffJMags
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