Natasha Cloud, Liberty Stifle Sparks in Happy Homecoming
BROOKLYN—Home for the holiday, the New York Liberty set off some early fireworks at the tip of an eight-game homestand on Thursday night at Barclays Center.
Natasha Cloud spearheaded a comeback from double-figures while Breanna Stewart had a double-double as the Liberty got back on the right path with an 89-79 victory over the Los Angeles Sparks.
Thursday's game marked a return home for the Liberty after a 1-3 road trip and also the awaited restoration of Leonie Fiebich into the lineup after she spent most of last month repping Germany in the EuroBasket Women's competition.
Cloud put up 20 points while Stewart had 17 with 14 rebounds. Sabrina Ionescu overcame an icy first 20 to hit six of her final seven tries from the field en route to 20 tallies.
Thursday's game marked the start of a lengthy stay in Brooklyn that will sandwich the WNBA All-Star Break, as New York (12-5) won't hit the road again until July 28. While it took a while for the Liberty to find their surroundings, they put up a feel-good victory in front of a packed holiday week crowd of 15,936.
The Liberty fireworks fizzled in the early going: they struggled to put down easy baskets and allowed Los Angeles to easily infiltrate the paint and the foul line en route to a 41-37 halftime deficit. Save for an Azura Stevens three, every point the Sparks scored in the first 20 came either in the colored area or at the charity stripe. Dearica Hamby and Kelsey Plum manned boards and helped negate a nine-turnover output with five rebounds each.
Metropolitan uneasiness peaked at the top of the third, when Los Angeles, having scored five quick ones before halftime to erase a fleeting Liberty lead, scored 11 of the first 16 points of the second half. It was a run that featured threes from Hamby and Julie Allemand and the former capped off the 16-5 advantage, one that gave Los Angeles its biggest lead of the night at 11, with a driving layup that came after a successful challenge erased a foul against her.
From there, however, the Liberty came together to post one of their most impactful runs of the season, closing the frame out on a 27-6 tally.
The newcomer Cloud, quickly establishing herself as a fan favorite just a third of the way into her first New York season, put in nearly half of her tallies with 11 during the vital third frame while Ionescu overcame the lack of foul on a circus-style shot that didn't draw a call to resemble her familiar shooting self.
Momentum perhaps officially flipped when Cloud cut a six-point Los Angeles in half with a three following a visitor's timeout before Isabelle Harrison completed the speedy comeback with a fastbreak double created with the interception of an Allemand pass, one that became a successful and-one via a Hamby foul.
Though the Sparks (5-13) took the lead again with drives from Hamby and Rickea Jackson, a Ionescu triple gave New York a permanent lead, which Cloud and Kennedy Burke boosted up to 10 before the third let out. Los Angeles still didn't get the Liberty pull away after that and narrowed the gap to five after another Hamby/Allemand onslaught, but Hamby's missed open look after a Jackson steal allowed Fiebich to sink a three that ignited one last run to seal the deal.
Amidst another struggle for the reeling Sparks, who have now dropped six of seven, Hamby led the way with 25 points and nine rebounds. Thursday's win proved historic for Liberty head coach Sandy Brondello, who moved into a second-place tie with Bill Laimbeer for second-most wins among all-time New York coaches.
After the Independence Day celebrations, part two of the Liberty homestand lands on Sunday when the Seattle Storm pay a visit (1 p.m. ET, CBS).
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.