Sabrina Ionescu electrified the crowd with 31 points, Breanna Stewart added 23 and the New York Liberty steamrolled the Las Vegas Aces 99-61 on Sunday to even the season series between the superteams at one game apiece.
Ionescu made 12 of 19 field-goal attempts and 6 of 10 from 3-point range for the Liberty (22-6), who avenged their 98-81 defeat at Las Vegas (24-3) on June 29. Stewart scored 18 of her points in the second half and Jonquel Jones racked up 12 points and 14 rebounds on the day.
Courtney Vandersloot posted 10 points and moved into second place on the WNBA’s all-time assists list with her 2,600th career helper, a feed to Jones that made it 86-53 with under nine minutes to play. Vandersloot finished with six assists and is 635 shy of eclipsing Sue Bird’s all-time mark of 3,234.
As a team, New York canned 17 of 38 triples (44.7 percent) despite starting 1-for-8 from deep. They shot 38-for-76 (50 percent) from the field overall compared to the Aces’ 23-for-70 clip (32.9 percent) and outrebounded Las Vegas 48-24.
Jackie Young scored 16 points to lead the Aces, who charted season lows in points, made field goals (tied season low) and assists. Chelsea Gray supplied 15 points and Kelsey Plum added 12. A’ja Wilson chipped in nine points and seven rebounds.
The Liberty busted the game open with a 22-4 run to start the second half that Betnijah Laney punctuated with a 3-pointer to grow New York’s lead to 71-48 at the 3:12 mark of the third quarter. Laney finished with 13 points and nine boards.
Ionescu’s silky feed to Jones for an easy layup with 18 seconds left capped the Liberty’s explosive third quarter that saw them outscore Las Vegas 30-9 to carry a 79-53 lead into the fourth.
New York’s lead grew to as many 42 on Jones’ layup that made it 97-55 with 5:22 left in the game.
The Liberty used an 8-0 run to jump ahead 12-6, but the Aces responded with their own eight-point surge to reclaim the lead in an energetic first quarter that ended with the visitors ahead 22-19.
Ionescu kept the energy pumping with a dazzling display from beyond the arc that swung the momentum over to New York in the second quarter.
The 2023 3-point contest winner buried 5 of 6 treys in the second period, including back-to-back shots to polish off a 10-0 Liberty run to begin the quarter that put New York ahead for good.
Ionescu exploded for 23 first-half points on 9-for-14 shooting as the Liberty led 49-44 at halftime. Young led Las Vegas with 13 points.
–Field Level Media
