Sabrina Ionescu’s record-breaking bench performance helped Liberty defeat the Wings and maintain playoff aspirations.
The New York Liberty were down by 15 points and in need of a spark late in the opening quarter of Wednesday night’s contest against the Dallas Wings, which was practically a must-win.
The Marine Johannes program premiered at that time.
The flamboyant Frenchwoman hit a 3-pointer to reduce the margin to 12 points before opening the second quarter with two additional triples.
A few minutes later, she passed Michaela Onyenwere a dime before tying the score with a layup.
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From that point on, New York mostly coasted. The team pulled away in the waning seconds of the fourth quarter to win 91-73, improving to 14-20 and moving into a four-way tie for seventh place.
Johannes led the turnaround with her 13 points and two assists on 5 of 7 shooting from the field, but she was not the only star of the show.
Together with Sami Whitcomb (15 points, four rebounds, and five assists), who also significantly contributed to the comeback, these two players headed a potent bench offense that scored 50 points on 17 of 29 field goal attempts.
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According to Across the Timeline, that was the fourth-highest bench performance in franchise history and the highest bench performance by any team in the league this season. It’s simple, according to Sandy Brondello, Liberty’s head coach. “Basketball is all about your ability to run and get stops.
All it’s about is that.
Our bench provided us with that tonight.
We made shots after moving the ball and getting several straight stops.”
The Liberty also received another solid performance from Sabrina Ionescu, their finest player, in addition to a big night from their reserves.
She didn’t score in the first half, but she came alive in the second and led the Liberty to victory.
As the Liberty stretched their lead to double digits in the third quarter, she had 11 points, four rebounds, and four assists. She finished the game with 13 points, nine rebounds, and seven assists on 6 of 12 shooting.
The Liberty is incredibly difficult to defeat when Ionescu is receiving assistance as she did against the Wings.
The Liberty is, however, in this situation because those all-around performances haven’t occurred frequently enough.
The good news is that they still have a shot at making the playoffs, which is all anyone could hope for after a 1-7 start.