Liberty Snap Losing Streak With Tight Win Over Mercury
BROOKLYN -The Phoenix Mercury rose and surged, but the New York Liberty withstood the furious challenge.
New York ended a rare losing streak on Wednesday night, holding off the visiting Mercury by an 81-78 final at Barclays Center. Sabrina Ionescu led the way with 22 points while Jonquel Jones stayed on the floor to score 20, nine of those tallies coming in the fateful final period. Ionescu briefly broke the Liberty out of their funk from the outside, as she was 4-of-9 from deep on the evening. With her last triple, Ionescu tied Shameka Christon for third-most in Liberty franchise history.
With the win, New York (5-2) is back in the win column after dropping two to Chicago and Minnesota. The Liberty seemed well destined for victory after a crisp first quarter that saw them score 33. Phoenix, fresh off an offensively-challenged defeat in Connecticut on Tuesday, hunkered down in the latter periods and enjoyed antics from the outside with Natasha Cloud and Diana Taurasi sinking three each.
The Liberty continue a three-game defense of Brooklyn on Friday night when the Washington Mystics comes to visit (7:30 p.m. ET, Ion).
GEOFF MAGLIOCCHETTI
Editor-In-Chief at All Knicks