'Madness' vs. Mercury Musters Liberty Victory

A contentious jump ball set the tone for the New York Liberty's fourth quarter closeout of the Phoenix Mercury.

Brandon Todd, NY Liberty

BROOKLYN -- Battles for New York City real estate can get rather intense. On Wednesday night, New York Liberty forward Kayla Thornton found the perfect spot ... a prime spot of hardwood on the Barclays Center hardwood ... and wasn't letting go.

Seeking to end a rare losing streak, the Liberty showed some fight both literally and figuratively in an interconference showdown with the Phoenix Mercury. Shortly before the midway mark of the fourth quarter, the two sides lined up for a jump ball in the Liberty end after Betnijah Laney-Hamilton and Morgan Bertsch got tied up.

With tensions rising via plentiful whistles, physical play, and a score knotted at 65, Thornton and Phoenix's Sug Sutton debated over a small area of Brooklyn parquet near the circle, which event drew the attention of their teammates.

"My coaches were telling me to get in the position I needed to get in and I did what I had to do to get that position. Just get in there somehow, someway!" Thornton added. "I think it got the fans going, the energy at that moment kind of just gave us an extra boost. I applied that as sixth woman and it gave us that win."

Brandon Todd, NY Liberty

Despite some verbal escalation and lingering words that kept the ball in the official's hands, play eventually resumed, but not before Thornton and Sutton were charged with matching technical fouls ... a development that the former learned of only after the game ended.

"Oh, I got a tech too? Well dang, I guess, I don't know," Thornton declared. "That's crazy!"

Sabrina Ionescu, the Liberty's leading scorer at 22 points, wound up getting Laney-Hamilton's tip whn all was said and done. Asked to describe the scene, the point guard plainly declared "Madness!"

"I think it was just understanding where we wanted KT to be in position," Ionescu said. "I think playrs just kind of kept moving after the ref had placed the ball. Obviously, you can't keep moving around ... you're going to have to stay in one spot. I think players kept trying to move around as the ball was about to be jumped. KT wanted one spot, the defender wanted another spot, so I think it was just the understanding of who gets that spot first and then figuring out around it."

While they probably weren't the dealbreaker ... Jonquel Jones' 10 points over the final 10 minutes and a highlight sealer from Laney-Hamilton likely played a bigger role ... the fleeting extracirriculars whipped the Barclays Center crowd into a frenzy and served as a slight turning point. The Liberty scored the next four points and found the willpower to muster one last comeback a Phoenix surge to pull off the 81-78 victory in front of 9,182 gathered on Atlantic Avenue.

The win stopped the Liberty's first instance of consecutive regular season losses since August 2022 (dropping two in a row after a 4-0 start) and allowed them to start a three-game homestand on the right note. The instant response also highlighted the chemistry that the Liberty valued among their returnees going into this season.

"I think it was great. Sometimes it's nice to kind of get fired up," Ionescu said. "We got it after that and were able to get a foul. Obviously, the fans loved it. I think they were just kind of riled up and it gave us a little bit of an extra boost."

"Honesty, I don't even know what happened after that," Laney-Hamilton said with a smile. "I think the fourth quarter was about us staying aggressive on both ends, I think our communication came in handy in that last quarter. I think doing that helped us get the win."

The Liberty's homestand continues on Friday night when the Washington Mystics visit (7:30 p.m. ET, Ion).

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