Breanna Stewart, Liberty Survive Ride of the Valkyries
Facing a home crowd basking in the glory of newfound WNBA basketball and the potential of their first three-game losing streak in nearly three full calendar years, the New York Liberty proved to be road warriors at the home of the Warriors.
Breanna Stewart put up a double-double while Kennedy Burke dazzled off the bench as the Liberty got back in the win column by withstanding the ride of the Golden State Valkyries to the tune of a 81-78 victory at Chase Center. Stewart put up 23 points and 10 rebounds while Burke had 20 in relief thanks primarily to a quartet of triples.
Despite a 1-of-11 output from the field (the lone making coming from three-point range at the top of the fourth quarter), Bay Area native Sabrina Ionescu came through in the clutch for the Liberty, hitting a series of clutch free throws and swiping a sterling steal from Tiffany Hayes during the final two minutes. It was a homecoming for Ionescu in more ways than one, as she redonned seafoam after missing Sunday's loss in Seattle with a minor neck injury.
Stewart and Burke handled the bulk of the Liberty offense in the first half, with the former scoring all but two of her points in the first 20. New Yorkers beyond Stewart and Burke were a combined 6-of-24 from the field but they managed to crack down on Golden State's offensive momentum after the home team put up 32 in the first half. An exception was Marine Johannes, whose third quarter heat check (3-of-3 from deep in the stage) kept a slim yet maintainable lead.
After an explosive first period, which the Valkyries won by three, neither team reached 20 in any of the remaining three frames despite the bench press from deep staged by Burke and Johannes. While the Liberty shots struggled to fall, they at least cleaned up their ball handling, losing just nine turnovers on the night, their fewest since they registered six in the season opening win over Las Vegas on opening day.
Sustained by yet another sellout crowd, Golden State (7-7) was primarily paced by Kate Martin, who scored all but three of its last 17 points, including each of the last dozen. The exception was ex-New Yorker Kayla Thornton, who was also responsible for the Ionescu defense throughout Wednesday's game.
But after Martin opened the penultimate minute of the period with another triple, creating a 75-74 Golden State lead, Ionescu hit one of her own in segments, sinking all three free throws on a Thornton foul. Two more followed after her robbery of Hayes, which provided the winning margin after one last three from Martin.
Despite missing the would-be equalizer after Ionescu's last singles, the reserve Martin enjoyed a career night to the tune of 21 points in defeat. That, however, wasn't enough to counter the dueling bench efforts of Burke and Johannes, who put up every tally of a season-best 31 points for the Liberty season unit.
The Liberty (11-3) improved to 3-0 against the WNBA's newest franchise and will get to go for a season sweep in September in San Francisco. In the meantime, the Liberty, now halfway through its four-game road trip, returns to action on Friday night for another late tip against the Phoenix Mercury (10 p.m. ET, Ion).
Geoff Magliocchetti is a veteran sportswriter who contributes to a variety of sites on the "On SI" network. In addition to the Yankees/Mets, Geoff also covers the New York Knicks, New York Liberty, and New York Giants and has previously written about the New York Jets, Buffalo Bills, Staten Island Yankees, and NASCAR.