Liberty Revel in Return of Leonie Fiebich
BROOKLYN—The New York Liberty had their lucky No. 13 back in the lineup in a return to the win column.
Leonie Fiebich made her awaited return to metropolitan affairs on Thursday night, reprising her role in the New York starting five in a cross-coast clash with the Los Angeles Sparks. The Liberty took the opener an eight-game homestand by an 89-79 final, coming back from as much as 11 points down to snap a brief streak of consecutive losses.
"On the defensive end, I think I did my job, trying to be disruptive," Fiebich said after Thursday's win. "Got some silly fouls there, but I think, on the offensive end, I could have hit my shots, could have been a bit more aggressive. But overall, I think we all did a good job today."
With the win, New York (12-5) expanded its perfect record with Fiebich on the 2025 floor to 10-0. The Liberty dropped five of seven while Fiebich competed for Germany in the EuroBasket Women's competition overseas.
Fiebich had a hearty task in her first game back, tasked with guarding Pacific sharpshooter Kelsey Plum. The prized LA acquisition was forced to get most of her work done at the foul line by sinking 9-of-10 attempts; she was 2-of-10 from the field and fruitless on four three-point tries, forcing Los Angeles to build an early lead by invading the Jonquel Jones-less interior.
Fiebich's crackdown was rewarded with a late shooting frenzy from Cloud and Sabrina Ionescu, who headlined a 27-6 run at the end of the third quarter to place permanent momentum on the Liberty's side.
The Sparks never fully fell out of contention but Fiebich's sole tally from the field, a three at the top of the key, more or less broke their will and thrust the Liberty forward. Cloud, earner of at least 20 points in back-to-back game, previously referred to Fiebich as her pick for Defensive Player of the Year in the leap-up to Thursday's homestand opener.
Despite relatively meager box score contributions and refusing to fully place the burden of resurrection on her, Liberty reps were more than happy to welcome her back with an acknowledgement of her contributions in the aftermath and a hope to see more as this homestand presses forward.
"We love having her back." head coach Sandy Brondello said. "We had to tell her to shoot a little bit more at the half time. She's given up shots, we don't want her to give up shots ... That was a big three for us. She's always dependable on the defensive side, but we want her to be more aggressive on the offense, and not just about threes, but also coming off with the ball in our hands and attacking downhill or pulling up for threes. So we'll keep growing on that part of the game, but so happy to have her back."
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.