Sabrina Ionescu. Liberty Deny Sky Commissioner's Cup Win
BROOKLYN—The Sky proved to be anything but the limit for the New York Liberty on Tuesday night at Barclays Center.
Sabrina Ionescu and Breanna Stewart manned the fort while fellow franchise face Jonquel Jones sat out, as the Liberty handled business by an 85-66 final over the Chicago Sky on Atlanta Avenue. New York (9-0) continued its franchise-best start to a season and remained perfect on both the conventional and Commissioners Cup leaderboards.
With Jones out due to an ankle injury, Ionescu had 23 points to lead the way while Stewart trailed her with 18. In Jones' place stood Nyara Sabally, who made her first career WNBA start in her own return from a six-game absence from a knee injury.
Sabally was a perfect 4-of-4 from the field in her starting five debut, while Kennedy Burke continued her scoring start from deep, posting her third perfect night from deep this season by hitting a trio of triples.
The Liberty established the status quo in the early going by scoring the first dozen points of the game, tipping things off with a Ionescu block of Ariel Atkins and Sabally earning five of the first seven tallies, the latter three on a successful and-one.
Ionescu's rejection was the start of a sterling defensive night for both the point guard (two blocks and a career-best tying four steals) and the Liberty as a whole, as they limited Chicago to just over 36 percent from the field in the first three periods (including 2-of-16 from three-point range). New York also kept Chicago off the board for the first four minutes of game time and forced 22 turnovers, the third time they've taken at least 20 this season (pulling that feat off in their first nine games for the first time since 2002).
Drama was kept to a minimum from there on out, as Ioenscu's last-minute three-pointer to close the first created a double-figure lead that New York would not relinquish. Chicago would somewhat beautified the final margin with a nine-point win the fourth quarter after falling behind by 30, one partly punctuated by eight tallies for late entrant, 2021 WNBA Rookie of the Year, and ex-New Yorker Michaela Onyenwere.
Both New York and Chicago (2-6) played with heavy hearts after the latter lost Courtney Vandersloot for the year when she endured a torn ACL in Saturday's loss in Indiana. The injury denied Vandersloot a chance to return to Brooklyn and receive the championship ring she earned with the Liberty last season.
Despite losing five turnovers, sophomore standout Angel Reese put forth perhaps her best effort of the year with 17 points and 11 rebounds. Having taken the first half of four meetings against the Sky, New York won't face Chicago again until Aug. 21.
In the meantime, the Liberty will look to keep things rolling over the weekend as they'll face the Indiana Fever on the road on Saturday afternoon (3 p.m. ET, ABC). One more win would match the longest winning streak in franchise history previously earned in 2010 and 2017.
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.