Jaylyn Sherrod Shines Despite Injury in Liberty Loss
If Jaylyn Sherrod was going to go down, she went down fighting — the New York Liberty reserve perhaps knows no other way.
Having lingered on the Liberty roster for nearly a calendar year now — rejoining the team last late summer, sticking around for the championship run, and landing on the title defense's opening day roster — the 5-7 Sherrod is often one of the last women off the Liberty bench but her time to rise has come with several regular Brooklynites dealing with injuries and absences.
"It's a special relationship that we have as two point guards," veteran Natasha Cloud previously said of Sherrod. "I'm just advocating for her behind the scenes to continue to be exactly who she is. She's a dog on defense, she pushes the pace on offense, and she's just going to continue to get better in the second year."
Sherrod was briefly added to the injury report on Sunday night, which saw New York go without Leonie Fiebich, Sabrina Ionescu, and Jonquel Jones in a cross-coast battle with the Seattle Storm. The sophomore had gone diving for a loose ball and hurt herself in a second period tie-up with Zia Cooke and was escorted to the locker room by head athletic trainer Terri Acosta and her staff.
Though Sherrod was clutching her knee in the immediate aftermath of her encounter with Cooke, she was able to return and spared the Liberty from a night with three reserves left on the bench. Though New York fell by an 89-79 final, head coach Sandy Brondello was quick to label Sherrod's spark plug efforts a positive in the wake of the team's third defeat in the last four games.
"She gave us some great minutes," Brondello said. "She just brings so much energy, so it was good to have her out there."
Brondello also clarified that Sherrod was indeed medically cleared to play and that insertion was not a mere necessity on a shorthanded night.
Facing Seattle for the first time this season, Sherrod helped keeping things within striking distance by matching her career-best with eight points while also accumulating three assists and rebounds each with two steals. In a third quarter that the Liberty start to lose control, Sherrod was the only New Yorker with a positive plus/minus. An and-one fastbreak shortly after her re-entry set the tone for the first of several spirited yet ultimately futile comeback efforts after the Liberty fell behind by nine.
Sherrod continues to maintain a metropolitan presence despite her humble entry as an undrafted free agent last training camp. Her presence has been one of the more inspiring subplots of the Liberty's recent run of prosperity, which still has them in the second slot on the early WNBA playoff bracket despite the recent misfortune.
"Me and Jay have had a cool relationship to that dynamic of making sure that I'm being a better point guard to her, and likewise, she could be a point guard to me," fellow backcourt rep Natasha Cloud said shortly after Sherrod made the final roster in May. "I think it's a really cool bond that we're creating. I love the way Jay plays. I know she's people will call her undersized, but that's a tough one."
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.