By Shara Talia Taylor
Tuesday night’s declined performance at Barclays Center was a big change for the New York Liberty who lost 92-65 to the Connecticut Sun, the team they defeated in their home opener.
New York fell behind at the end of the first quarter and could not recover. The Liberty couldn’t make shots and committed multiple turnovers in their fourth straight loss.
“We had a good start,” said head coach Sandy Brondello about the loss. “He (Sun’s Coach Curt Miller) subbed all his players out and they got really aggressive and we just didn’t respond. We didn’t handle pressure well. That was very obvious with the turnovers.”
The Liberty had 29 turnovers and the Sun had 17. It was a drastic difference from their home opener against the Sun on May 7, when the Liberty won 81-79. Sabrina Ionescu, who led the Liberty with 25 points in that opening game only had two points in the second matchup.
“Sabrina, she’s a great player,” Brondello said. “Some days, teams obviously scout, (say) ‘let’s take Sabrina out of the game’, and they did that, with the physicality and trapping her.”
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Brondello said the Liberty can get better in learning how to exploit that strategy and also the next few days off will help Ionescu.
The Liberty started the game with energy, defense and rebounds. Ionescu had a steal and layup. New York competed and had a 10-2 lead with about 6:22 minutes remaining in the first quarter. That’s when the Sun took a timeout, made substitutions and started their comeback. Connecticut led 18-15 at the end of the first quarter, although the Liberty had out-rebounded them 10-7. Connecticut pressed forward and led 51-32 by halftime and 71-45 by the end of the third quarter.
Betnijah Laney led the Liberty with16 total points. Stefanie Dolson added 13 points. Dolson’s individual performance improved from the first time they played the Sun, when she scored only four points.
“I think in the first game we had a lot more toughness,” Dolson said “We weren’t making a lot of shots, but we were playing really hard.”
She said in this game, New York was coming off several losses and when Connecticut stepped up in the first quarter, New York retreated. “I think we conceded to a lot of things that we should have fought through, but we’re a young team and I think that’s where B (Laney) and I have to step up as the older guys and kind of bring them along and show them how to get better,” Dolson said.
DeWanna Bonner led Connecticut with 16 points.
“I coached DeWanna for a long long time and she is very, very dangerous with her size,” said Brondello, who coached the 6.4 Forward-Guard when they both were with the Phoenix Mercury. “She was a bit of a thorn in my side tonight.”
The Liberty have a week to rest before they travel to Minneapolis to take on the Minnesota Lynx.
