Dream Ends For Liberty Aces Repeat

Vandersloot Misses Game Winning Shot

Photo: Special to the NY Beacon

They fought tears at the press conference after their hard work throughout the season allowed them to finish second place in the league and make it to the finals for the first time since 2002. New York was within seconds of a final shot that could have won the game, but it wasn’t executed and they lost the series 3-1.

“It’s hard to answer these questions right now, because we’re all so disappointed and it’s such an emotional time,” said Courtney Vandersloot.

Vandersloot led the Liberty with 19 points and six assists in the final game. Breanna Stewart, the 2023 WNBA MVP, contributed 10 points.  She led the Liberty with 14 rebounds and two steals. Betnijah Laney added 15 points and four assists, Jonquel Jones added six points, one steal and three blocked shots, and Sabrina Ionescu added 13 points, one steal and two blocked shots.

“We knew that their game plan was going to be to junk it up and make it difficult and that’s exactly what happened,” Stewart said about what prevented them from forcing Game 5. “Such a low scoring game, but we couldn’t get stops when we needed it and couldn’t get anything to drop.”

However, it was a game New York had the capability to win. The Aces played without starters Chelsea Gray and Kiah Stokes and veteran Candace Parker. Additionally, the Liberty were the first half of the game. The Liberty played the first two games of the finals’ series in Las Vegas, where they lost, but they returned home for a victory in game 3 and started game 4 with the same energy. 

 

The Liberty had good ball movement and a rotation of players each contributing to start the game. New York was ahead 23 -13 at the end of the first quarter. Las Vegas pushed back and out-scored the Liberty 17-16 in the second quarter, but New York was ahead 39-30 at halftime. The Aces returned from halftime focused and had their best quarter outscoring New York 23-12 and pushed ahead of the Liberty by the end of the quarter 53-51.

Both teams were playing hard in the fourth quarter as they tied the score several times and each took the lead. Following a timeout, in the final eight seconds of the game, Ionescu passed the ball inbounds to Stewart. Unable to shoot Stewart passed to Vandersloot who missed a shot and the rebound by Jones was too late.

The Las Vegas Aces won their second straight title and A’ja Wilson was named the 2023 WNBA Finals MVP as she led the Aces with 24 points.

Head coach Sandy Brondello said she felt she made the correct call giving the ball to Stewart, but it just didn’t work as planned. “Credit to Vegas, they were down, they found a way,” said Brondello. “We fought, but it wasn’t our best game today.“

 

Vandersloot thanked fans for the support they received all season. “I hope they know that we gave it our all,” she said. “It didn’t end the way we wanted. We enjoyed playing in front of them and it meant a lot that they showed up when we needed them.”