The Guru’s WNBA Roundup: New York at a Franchise Best 8-0 After Beating Washington; Late 18-1 Rally Carries Phoenix Over Golden State

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

In the only two WNBA games of the night on Thursday the unbeaten New York Liberty (8-0) quickly got back to a top-of-the-standings deadlock with the idle Minnesota Lynx (8-0) by winning 86-78 at Washington (3-6) in front of a nearly full 4,200 crowd at CareFirst Arena while in the Southwest, Phoenix (6-3) at home closed with an 18-1 run to win 86-77 over the expansion Golden State Valkyries (2-5) in front of a Mercury crowd of 9,943 at PHX Arena.

In the continuation of week one of the three-week in-season Commissioner’s Cup in which the overall defending WNBA Champion Liberty went to 2-0, Breanna Stewart scored 26 points with 11 boards while Sabrina Ionescu had 13 points and seven assists and also with a pair of 3-pointers just passed Crystal Robinson to become the franchise career leader at 401.

Ionescu also in her 151st game beat retired Phoenix great Diana Taurasi by seven to become the fastest to reach that total and New York, which now is off to its best start in its 29-year history beating the 7-0 start in the WNBA inaugural summer of 1997, with 96 made threes to date set a league record it held at 92 in eight games in 2021.

Stewart, who has also played for Seattle, entered the top 20 of WNBA career scorers but she is the only one to do it under 300 games at 269.

New York for the second time within a week had to play most of the game without Jonquel Jones, who left late in the first quarter with a right ankle injury after missing last Thursday’s win in Brooklyn over Golden State with a hamstring injury.

She returned Sunday to score 13 in the franchise-record rout of Connecticut at home in the Barclays Center.

The Liberty exploded on the Mystics with a 32-12 second quarter, its best period of the season, but Washington, which is 0-2 in Cup Games, went 14-4 at the outset of the fourth and narrowed the deficit to six points at 77-71.

“I’m super proud of our group to be able to come in and have a sense of urgency every single game,” Ionescu said of the season start. “Every single game we’ve had to learn a lot as a group, continuing to fight through some adversity but also continuing to get better every game.”

New York was up ten at the three-minute mark when a 6-0 Mystics rally got it to within four but Stewart and Ionescu combined for 5-of-6 at the line to enable the Liberty to prevail.

“We’re hungry for more,” Stewart said.

Kennedy Burke off the bench scored 12 with a personal best 4-of-4 from deep, while Saint Joseph’s graduate Natasha Cloud had four points with five assists.

Washington’s Kiki Iriafen, the WNBA rookie of the month, scored 17 with nine boards, while Sonia Citron, the other first-rounder on the Mystics, scored 13, and reserve Jade Melbourne was 6-of-8 from the field for 15 points.

Former UConn star Stefanie Dolson got her 3,000th point, while rookie Lucy Olsen, out of Villanova and Iowa from Collegeville, off the bench in three minutes missed her only shot taken.

First-year coach Sydney Johnson has been cautious in his front court use with the return this season of Shakira Austin and Aaliyah Edwards coming back from injuries.

“We are trying to take the long view here,” he said. “Aaliyah is going to play. Kira is going to play. So, there's no thought of them not getting out there.

“It's more of just like long- term development and making sure we don't overdo it with the both of them missing good bits of training camp and just not trying to stack too much.”

The Mystics host Connecticut Sunday at 3 p.m., while New York next hosts Chicago at 8 p.m. on Tuesday on ESPN.

Golden State Fades Against Phoenix

For a long time, Golden State was in another game giving its fans hope the new WNBA team would pull an upset but Phoenix, one of the original eight teams in the league that did some rebuilding in the offseason, used its finishing surge to bring the Mercury Cup record to 2-1 with its third game since Sunday and the Valkyries fell to 0-2 in the in-season tournament while the overall skid is 0-4.

Rookie Lexi Held had a personal season-best 24 points for the Mercury, while Satou Sabally had 19 points, seven boards, and five assists.

The Valkyries, who got handled by New York in their first meeting last week in Brooklyn but then extended the Liberty on the road two nights later, and since went to Minnesota, led 76-68 with 4:04 left in regulation before the Mercury erupted.

Phoenix then went up 77-76 with 1:11 to go on Held’s basket.

Golden State tied it on 1-of-2 from the line, but Sabally got three on an o-board and foul shot with 33.3 left.

The Valkyries then went into a total collapse. Veronica Burton was wide open inside but missed and then Sabally made two from the line for a plus five lead. Golden State committed two straight inbound turnovers which Phoenix cashed in with four straight foul shots.

Held was 7-for-15 from the field, including 4-for-9 from 3-point range, and a perfect 6-6 from the line to pass overall No. 1 pick Paige Bueckers on Dallas for the best rookie night in the still young season.

Bueckers, the overall No. 1, has missed the last two games due to a concussion and the Wings announced Thursday she’ll be sidelined Friday night when the Wings host Los Angeles at 9:30 p.m. on ION and the WNBA’s streaming League Pass, which earlier at 7:30 p.m. will air the night’s other game when Atlanta visits Connecticut.

Back in Phoenix, Sami Whitcomb scored scored nine points but former Rutgers star Kahleah Copper with a left knee injury and Alyssa Thomas with a left calf injury were sidelined as was recently signed rookie Megan McConnell out of Duquesne who got hurt in Tuesday’s loss to Minnesota.

She was on the bench wearing No. 9, the number of her brother T.J. McConnell, the former 76er now with Indiana, which upset Oklahoma at the buzzer Thursday night in Game 1 of the NBA finals.

He wore her No. 16.

Burton on Golden State scored 16, shooting 9-for-11 from the line. Temi Fagbenle, the former Harvard star, chosen from Minnesota in the expansion draft, had 12 points and 10 boards, while Kayla Thornton, Cecilia Zandalasini, and Julie Vanloo each scored 10.

The Mercury 5-1 home start is a franchise best.

Phoenix hosts Seattle Saturday at 10 p.m., while Golden State on ABC and ESPN+ earlier in the day hosts Las Vegas at 3 p.m.

On Saturday night, the other game, airing at 8 p.m. on CBS will have Indiana visiting Chicago at the larger United Center though the Fever’s Caitlin Clark will miss her fourth game with a left quad strain.

However, at Thursday’s Indiana practice media availability Clark said she could return next week, which would mean playing in the Fever visit next Saturday at New York, whose home arena is shared with the NBA Nets.

On Saturday night’s broadcast in Chicago, South Carolina and former Temple coach Dawn Staley will make her debut as a studio analyst.