The New York Liberty will put multiple streaks on the line Friday night when they host the Washington Mystics.
New York (11-4) has the longest active win streak in the WNBA at eight games and has also beaten the Mystics in 10 straight regular-season meetings, last losing to Washington in the regular-season finale of 2023.
New York, which has won five home games in a row, is just a game behind Minnesota for the best record in the WNBA and clinched home-court advantage in the Commissioner’s Cup final with a dramatic 96-95 win Wednesday night in Chicago.
Playing in just her third game of the season after dealing with back and ankle injuries, Sabrina Ionescu scored on a left-handed layup with 10 seconds left to cap a game that featured 15 lead changes and 11 ties.
“She’s been in a million of these games,” Liberty first-year coach Chris DeMarco said afterwards. “She understands what winning means, and she made a nice play at the end. It’s going to be difficult as we ease her back in for everybody to find the right combinations, the right sets defensively, how we’re going to play.”
Breanna Stewart continues to carry the offensive load for the Liberty, ranking sixth in the WNBA at 19.7 points per game. Jonquel Jones is fourth in the league in rebounds at 9.1 per game.
With Ionescu’s return to form, the Liberty’s Big Three are back together again, but DeMarco isn’t taking anything for granted.
“It’s really hard to win in this league,” he said. “I thought we did a great job of getting back into the game early, and then we played with the lead, we lost, we fought back, made a play at the end and then got a stop at the end. We are just continuing to build, and I think for our character this was a really good win.”
The Liberty will host Las Vegas at Barclays Center for the Cup final on June 30; when New York hosted the 2024 final, the game had to be moved to Long Island’s UBS Arena because of a scheduling conflict.
Washington (6-7) has won two out of three and is coming off an impressive performance in Connecticut. Playing without standouts Kiki Iriafen (ankle) and Shakira Austin (knee), the Mystics downed the Sun 88-81 as Sonia Citron had 26 points and a season-high 11 rebounds.
The Mystics also got a boost from rookie center Lauren Betts, who made her first career start and finished with 13 points.
“Every coach wants a good, sharp edge to start, but I think for us, 40 minutes, that’s our challenge,” Washington coach Sydney Johnson said before the game. “That’s the thing for us. … We have had some good moments.”
–Field Level Media
