Liberty's Sabrina Ionescu Shines in Return to Unrivaled

New York Liberty star Sabrina Ionescu dazzled in her return to the Unrivaled 3-on-3 league.

Courtesy: Unrivaled

New York Liberty star Sabrina Ionescu proved to be a Phantom menace in Unrivaled play on Friday night.

Ionescu was the undisputed star of the third week's tip-off action, as her club Phantom BC topped Rose by a 75-63 final at Wayfair Arena. The point guard put up 32 points and paired them with nine rebounds and eight assists in her return to action after prior commitments in Paris forced her to miss out on last week's showdowns, including a get-together with Mist featuring fellow Liberty champions Breanna Stewart and Courtney Vandersloot.

"I felt really good, really happy to kind of get back into it," Ionescu said in the aftermath. "Anytime you're able to get up and down, play against a great team, get back with my teammates is really exciting. So I felt good in rhythm."

"Having Sabrina changes, a lot of different lineups just with her," Phantom head coach Adam Harrington added. "You look at nine rebounds, eight assists, like just an incredible overall game to come in, to get [Brittney Griner] the ball where she needed it."

Partly using Unrivaled as a de facto case of intense rehab after undergoing thumb surgery in December, Ionescu played without a finger splint for the first time in the calendar year on Friday. Granted newfound freedom, Ionescu let loose, hitting 7-of-10 tries from three-point range. Between her conventional tallies, assists, and possessions created with her rebounds, Ionescu played a direct role in 53 of the 75 Phantom points.

Photo: Courtesy of Unrivaled

With Phantom (2-3) trailing by one after the opening period, Ionescu got to work with 11 points in the second, starting with the triple that created a permanent lead. Ionescu would also close things out in style, scoring eight points of Phantom's 13 points necessary for the final target score before capping things off with a helper on Satou Sabally's game-clinching three.

Phantom returns to action on Monday night, where a rematch with Mist awaits in Miami (7:30 p.m. ET, TNT). It has won two of its three games despite several moving pieces that required the emergency of Natisha Hiedeman, who has since moved onto Laces BC. Fresh off a reported move to the Atlanta Dream, Griner had 12 points off the bench while fellow reserve Azura Stevens led all scorers for Rose (1-4) with 19.

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