SantaFeToday.com Santa Fe’s Hometown News
By Arnie Leshin
The 2nd-seeded New York Liberty had to make a statement and did, now it has to continue in order to remain in the hunt for the Women’s National Basketball Association.
It’s game three in Brooklyn, the Eastern Conference’s Liberty court at Barclays Center, and after losing games one and two of the best-of-three series against the top-seeded Las Vegas Aces Western Conference champions, it put New York into a difficult situation as it came away with the 87-73 win on Sunday.
Before that, Liberty looked lost with losses of 99-82 and 104-76 in Las Vegas, but in game three 6-foot-6 forward Jonquel Jones deposited 23 points, brought down 11 rebounds, and added a pair of blocks. She also had help from the league’s Most Valuable Player, 6-4 Breanna Stewart, who turned in 21 points, dished off seven assists, and grabbed nine boards.
In tonight’s game, it’s win or its end of season for New York, but it does get some assistant from the Aces as injuries will sideline their 5-11 guard Chelsea Gray and 6-3 post Kiah Stokes. The latter is down with a shoulder injury while Gray has an ankle sprain.
Without these two starters, Vegas depends on 6-4 starting forward A’ja Wilson, 6-foot guard Jackie Young, and 5-8 sharpshooter Kelsey Plum. Wilson supplies the experience to go with inside, outside versatility, Young the backcourt, and Plum the ace behind the 3-point line.
For the Liberty, there’s Stewart, who handles the ball, hits from outside, penetrates, and provides the leadership, Jones, at 215 pounds, is strong inside, creates second shots, boxes out and plays strong defense, and then there’s 5-8 point guard Courtney Vandersloot and 5-11 outside shooter Sabrina Ionescu, as well as 6-foot guard-forward Betnijah Laney.
Interesting to see what happens in Brooklyn tonight, a home court win for the Liberty will bring the deciding game 5, a win for the Aces and it’s a second straight championship. New York has never won the title.
