Sabrina Ionescu Returns to Liberty After One-Game Absence
The New York Liberty have called for quack-up.
Oregon alumna and Walnut Creek, CA native Sabrina Ionescu will once again don seafoam when the Liberty plays a game in her beloved Bay Area for the first time on Wednesday night. The Liberty (10-3) will look to get back in the win column as they face the Golden State Valkyries on the road at Chase Center.
Head coach Sandy Brondello confirmed Ionescu's participation before the game and that she would be a full go. The former Duck and Pac-12 legend missed Sunday's loss in Seattle, the opener of a four-game road trip, when she woke up with a "kink" in her neck.
With Ionescu out, the Liberty was missing three three starters during their first trip to the Pacific Northwest this year. Leonie Fiebich is still repping Germany in the EuroBasket Women competition while Jonquel Jones is in the midst of an absence that will last at least four weeks due to an ankle injury.
In 12 games this season, Ionescu is averaging a career-best 20.4 points a game while hitting over 43 percent from the field. Just before her brief medical absence, she posted back-to-back 34-point games, becoming just the second New Yorker to have consecutive triple-decade showings (next to teammate Breanna Stewart).
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.