Stewart's Stuffing, Scoring Help Liberty Sweep Sparks
BROOKLYN-With her teammates creating historic landmarks in Thursday's win over the Los Angeles Sparks, Breanna Stewart simply couldn't let her New York Liberty teammates have all the fun.
Stewart's sterling Saturday set up a seafoam sweep of the Sparks, as the Liberty put up a 98-88 victory in an instant rematch at Barclays Center. Stewart earned a new career-high with six blocks, pairing them with 33 points. She's also just the fourth player in Liberty history to earn six rejections in a single game, two short of the franchise record eight put up by Kiah Stokes in 2015.
With her point tally, Stewart is just the fourth New Yorker to earn at least 30 points on at least 10 seafoam-branded occasions. Alongside her are Tina Charles, Cappie Pondexter, and teammate Sabrina Ionescu.
Stewart's mutli-faceted talents tipped off a busy weekend for the Liberty (14-3), who have begun another winning streak after falling in Phoenix on Tuesday. Kayla Thornton tied her career-best with 20 points (earning most of that with six three-pointers, also a personal best) while Jonquel Jones had a 14-point, 13-rebound double-double. Ionescu was one assist short of joining Jones putting in 24 points in the sweep's completion.
New York sank 16 three-pointers, each of the makes coming from the arms of one of its five starters, including substitutes Thornton and Leonie Fiebich, who respectively stepped in for both Courtney Vandersloot (return to play process) and Betnijah Laney-Hamilton (knee) for the second straight game.
"It shows a lot about our commitment to being the best team we can be and that we're making no excuses with the ones that aren't here," head coach Sandy Brondello said. "Everyone will go through adversity with players out. It's our role players stepping up when they're called on. But in the end, it's our big three taking ownership of making sure they're bringing their best game every single day."
The Liberty had to earn their Saturday sweep in front of well-stocked Barclays Center seeking relief from scorching metropolitan temperatures. New York fell behind in the early going, trailing 25-21 after the opening period. Los Angeles doubled that lead just over 90 seconds into part two, but Stewart's roaring statement began a seafoam takeover.
A speedy 8-0 run was built entirely by Stewart antics as she scored six after assisting on a Jones double. The Sparks took a brief lead back but Stewart's subsequent triple gave the hosts a permanent advantage.
"Tonight was about just continuing to kind of be aggressive," Stewart said of the second period. "I felt like like we were letting them off the hook a little bit and I wanted to make sure that I demanded the ball, especially in the post. Threes were falling ... my teammates found me and got us kind of into the zone, into the run that we wanted."
Despite several SoCal rallies, the Liberty never let it get any closer than eight thereafter. The lead was partly sustained by a brilliant showcase from Thornton, who hit all but one of her historic tally from deep in the second half. Thornton, still subbing for Vandersloot in the starting five, tied her personal best previously set on May 31 against Washington.
"Tonight I complimented her because she starred in her role," Brondello said of Thornton, who hit all but one of seven tries from deep. "We all have different roles that we have to fulfill on this team and she plays her role perfectly. Some nights she's going to get a lot more threes than other nights and this is one of the nights. Every time it goes up, I know it's going in because I see it every single day in practice and she's always going to give us great effort. So well done, KT."
Life after Cameron Brink has been tough for the Sparks (4-13), who have dropped each of the first two games since the second overall pick of the draft was lost for the year with a torn ACL and sinx in a row overall. Dearica Hamby led the the visitors with 20, which wasn't enough to carry the load thanks to a combined 4-of-20 output from Aari McDonald and Kia Nurse. McDonald alone was 0-of-8, ending her streak of games with at least 14 points at six.
New York and Los Angeles will do battle again on Aug. 15 at Crypto.com Arena.
In the meantime, a working weekend continues on Sunday when New York heads south to face the Atlanta Dream (3 p.m. ET, WWOR). It'll be their last game before venturing off to Belmont to battle Minnesota for the Commissioner's Cup final on Tuesday.
GEOFF MAGLIOCCHETTI
Editor-In-Chief at All Knicks