The Guru’s WNBA Roundup: New York Stops Minnesota Sweep; Rallies Carry Las Vegas and Phoenix; Sesttle Hangs on to Eighth; Washington Push Loses Ground

 By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

NEW YORK -The defending champion Liberty (22-13) deprived first place Minnesota (28-6) of a 4-0 sweep of the season series by jumping to a 19-7 lead and then turning aside several comeback tries before finishing with an 85-75 victory before a crowd of 16,864 at home Tuesday night in the Barclays Center in Brooklyn.

Jonquel Jones, the adopted daughter of Temple coach Diane Richardson, scored 22 points with 10 boards and was 3-5 from distance, treating the crowd to a performance like one from last October in the same arena when she became the MVP of the Finals in a 3-2 series triumph by New York over the Lynx, winning the decisive Game 5 at the finish in overtime for the Liberty’s first championship in the franchise’s 28-year history dating to the WNBA’s inaugural summer in 1997.

New York coach Sandy Brondello, in her fourth season guiding the Liberty after being in Phoenix, recently snapped a tie with Richie Adubato for most franchise victories, now at 101, which came on the eve of her birthday.

Sabrina Ionescu, a former overall No. 1 pick out of Oregon, scored 17, including a game-clinching three-pointer, and out-assisted the Lynx entire roster 11-10.

“Sabrina’s a great player, going to go down as one of the greatest players of all times,” Brondello said. "Defensively, we’ve challenged her, and she’s raised and it's great to see her development there. Just that focus on that side of the ball. Very proud tonight. She had a hell of a game on both sides of the ball.”

While Courtney Williams after a slow start scored 17 points for the Lynx, starters Bridget Carleton (3), Alanna Smith (5), Jessica Shepard (6), and Kayla McBride (6) were all held to single digits, Shepard had 10 rebounds, though off the bench Natisha Hiedeman scored 16, DiJonai Carlton, a recent acquisition, scored 11 as did Maria Kliundikova.

“Five minutes to go we were making sure we had a chance to win the game, and we did,” said veteran Minnesota coach Cheryl Reeve, the former La Salle star out of South Jersey. “Four minutes to go, we had a layup opportunity we don’t take.

“We played here in the playoffs so it’s not new to us, the ups and downs in a hard road game. We didn’t start the game ready. Our starters weren’t ready and that was surprising to me.”

Recent Liberty free agent signee Emma Meesseman scored 13, while Leonie Fiebich and Saint Joseph’s alum Natasha Cloud each scored 10.

Following the three losses to Minnesota, Ionescu discussed the adjustments in this one which had more implications in the standings beyond playing for pride.

“Just attacking,” she said. “We were super decisive what we were doing before we caught the ball.

“Some of the other games, we were making decisions after we caught the ball and it kind of stalled our offense. Tonight, you saw a team made decisions really quick, whether it was shoot, move off the ball, drive, and continue to put pressure on the defense, and over times it wears teams down. The more exciting thing is we showed how much we have to grow.”

Of her shot that foiled any last-minute reversal, “it’s a huge dagger. It kind of gives you a comfortable lead to finish the game.”

New York, with a best-ever 9-0 start, kept pace with Minnesota early in the season before the Lynx were able to keep going dominating the other 12 teams while injuries brought the Liberty back to the pack in what is now a very tight nine-for-seven race to the end of a record 44-game regular season on Sept. 11 when the playoff pairings will be set.

On the Liberty side, the team stopped a two-game slide to move into a second-place tie with Atlanta (22-13) which failed to score three times in the last minute at Las Vegas (22-14) as the Aces prevailed 74-72 for their eighth-straight triumph before a home crowd of 10,420 at Michelob ULTRA Arena to stay in a statistical fourth-place tie with Phoenix (21-13), which rallied to win 98-91 at Golden State (18-17) before a continuing WNBA record season sellout streak of 18,064 for the expansion Valkyries at the Chase Center in San Francisco.

Minnesota, whose Napheesa Collier has been out with an ankle injury suffered during the Aug. 2 blowout win at Las Vegas, had won six straight beginning with beating New York earlier that week leaving the magic number at two to clinch home court in the opening round and five for the overall No. 1 seed.

Collier, the reigning defensive player of the year, had been the MVP favorite but with her absence, Las Vegas’ A’ja Wilson, the reigning MVP, and Phoenix’s Alyssa Thomas have joined the discussion.

New York’s Breanna Stewart, a past two-time MVP at Seattle, hasn’t played since July 26th with a bone bruise on her right knee, but is close to returning as the playoffs near.

Jones, who missed a month across June and July, missed five games winning MVP with Connecticut in 2021.

Phoenix and Las Vegas at seven games behind Minnesota are just a half-game behind New York and Atlanta who will meet Saturday in Georgia after Atlanta hosts Minnesota (7:30 p.m.) Thursday while New York hosts Chicago (7 p.m.), both on Amazon Prime Video.

Golden State with the loss fell a full game in seventh behind idle Indiana (19-16) which got more bad news Tuesday losing Sophie Cunningham for the season after suffering a knee injury in Sunday’s win at last-place Connecticut (7-27).

The Fever continue to be without reigning rookie of the year Caitlin Clark and recently in the same game also lost guards Sydney Colson (ACL) and Aari McDonald (foot).

On Tuesday Indiana signed former Temple star Shey Peddie to a seven-day contract following picking up Odyssey Sims the rest of the way in the wake of the other injuries.

Golden State, which has set a WNBA record for wins in an expansion season, is also trying to become the first new team to become part of the playoff field.

But the Valkyries now sit just a half-game in front of eighth place Seattle (18-18) in the last playoff spot a game in front of Los Angeles (16-18) after winning 94-88 at 12th-place Chicago (8-26) before a Wintrust Arena crowd of 6,724.

Los Angeles in Wednesday’s only game is hosting 11th-place Dallas (16-18) at 10 p.m.

The other team in the hunt for a playoff spot is Washington (16-19) which is now in 10th place 1.5 behind Seattle and a half-game behind Los Angeles after in Tuesday’s other game lost at home 80-69 to Connecticut, just the Sun’s second road win, before 4,200 at CareFirst Arena to end a 13-game losing streak away from home.

Wilson Leads Las Vegas Over Atlanta

A’ja Wilson continued to explode for the streaking Aces, scoring 32 points with 12 boards and five blocks.

The former South Carolina star and national collegiate player of the year pre-game was averaging 28.4 points and 14.4 rebounds her previous five contests.

It was her 116th career double double, and 33rd with at least 30 points and 10 boards. It was also Wilson’s third straight 30-point game and third career with 30+ points, 10+ boards and 5+ blocks, a WNBA record eclipsing Atlanta’s Britney Griner and Candace Parker.

She was 12-24 from the field and is now the youngest and fastest in league history to connect with 2,000 field goals.

Jackie Young added 16 and Chelsea Gray had eight points, seven boards, and 11 assists.

Atlanta, which entered the game on a 7-1 run, had 19 points from Rhyne Howard with six assists, while Allisha Gray and Griner each scored 16 points.

The Dream across the third and fourth quarters went on an 11-0 run to lead 67-57 and then the Aces answered with a 13-0 eruption ending with Jewell Loyd’s shot from distance to go up 70-67.

“I got into it when we went down ten,” Aces coach Becky Hammon said of the ensuing timeout with her team down double digits. “We just went soft there for a moment. And you can’t go soft defensively with that team.

“So, I just challenged them, and we got nine stops in a row, and they ended up scoring five points the rest of the game.

“When we play defense like that, we’re a hard team … and they can beat you in a lot of different ways.”

Howard’s three tied it with 1:37 left but Wilson quickly got the final word.

Atlanta did get a stop, defensively, took a time out, but Howard missed a game-tying attempt, and the Aces ended it with a rebound.

“Obviously a tough finish,” said Atlanta coach Karl Smesko. “I’m proud of our players the way they competed this whole trip. A couple of games at the wire didn’t go our way. Kind of ran out of gas in the fourth. Give them credit.”

Phoenix Rallies on Golden State

Rutgers grad Kahleah Copper out of North Philadelphia had five makes from distance on the way to 25 points for the winning Mercury in the fight in the upper part of the standings in which the third and fourth place teams with the top two will have home advantage in the best-of-three opening rounds while the second place team has home court in the best of five semifinals.

Third place in the semis means a home disadvantage but it also likely means playing anyone but Minnesota to get to the finals.

Satou Sabally had 10 of her 17 for Phoenix in the second half.

The shorthanded Valkyries went up big early with Veronica Burton getting 13 of her 24 points while also in the contest dealing a career-high 14 assists.

However, the Mercury erupted with a 20-8 run in the second half.

Alyssa Thomas nearly gained another triple-double for Phoenix with 13 points, nine boards, and eight assists.

Phoenix coach Nate Tibbetts credited rookie Monique Akoa Makani’s defense on Burton in the second half as a key to the victory.

“She did a great job. In the second half that’s the ‘Mo we know, that’s the ‘Mo we need, she sets the tone for our defense when she competes at that level.”

Of Copper, “In the first half, she carried us. Our team did a good job of finding her.”

Golden State’s Carla Leite made her sixth start and scored 15, while Janelle Salaun scored 13 of which 11 at the outset of the game was her career best in a quarter. She also pulled down six rebounds.

Kate Martin scored 14, but Tiffany Hayes, the Valkyries’ top scorer after Kayla Thorton’s season-ending injury last month, was rested, while Cecilia Zandalasini was out with a left calf injury. Center Iliana Rupert suffered a concussion her last game.

“They both warmed up before the game and didn’t feel a hundred percent healthy, and you know my motto, if they’re not a hundred percent and they don’t feel right, it’s not time to play,” said Golden State coach Natalie Nakase.

“How many players did I hear just today from Dallas, someone is out completely, Sophie (Cunningham) is out completely, I am not risking, you know, another player going down.

“But look how everyone stepped up today, so let’s give credit … we were an eight-woman strong team, and I thought they fought their asses off,” she said.

“We have nine games off and that’s plenty. Now that’s two days’ rest. We just had six games in 11 days. This was our sixth. I anticipated some fatigue considering our starters have played some heavy minutes. That’s why we have an amazing bench.”

The Valkyries’ sellout total has reached 17 games, and they have now suffered two consecutive home losses for the first time.

The teams meet again Friday at 10 p.m. in Phoenix, part of the league’s three-game package that has Minnesota at Indiana at 7:30 p.m.; and Seattle at Dallas at 7:30 p.m., all streaming on ION.

Seattles Clings to Eighth

Skylar Diggins scored 24 while Nneka Ogwumike scored 21 enabling the Storm to stay alive in the tight race at the bottom of four fighting for two spots, though the teams immediately above them are not out of danger yet.

It also helped to be facing the Sky on a five-game losing streak and 13-of-14.

Second overall pick Dominique Malonga out of France had 15 points for the visitors with seven boards a career-high three blocks.

She’s now the first WNBA player to score 100 field goals before the age of 20.

Brittney Sykes, the recent arrival in a trade with Washington, added 12 points while Ezi Magbegor scored 11 with eight rebounds and four blocks.

Chicago’s second-year pro Angel Reese returned from a long stretch out with back issues and was joined by Ariel Atkins, with 19 points each, while Kia Nurse scored 13.

Additionally, Kamilla Cardoso scored 10 with six boards and six assists, while Elizabeth Williams scored 10 with nine boards.

The Storm went up early in the second quarter on Malonga’s two straight baskets 28-25 and never trailed again.

Diggins dealt six assists passing Las Vegas coach Hammon’s mark as a player with New York and San Antonio with 1,708 for her career to move up to seventh on the WNBA charts while Ogwumike topped Sheryl Swoopes with her 658th steal to take fifth on the lists.

Washington Slips Outside the Playoff Cutoff

After making a run to challenge for the bottom of playoff field, the Mystics got surprised at home by Connecticut, which despite its worst season is close to climbing out of the cellar.

“We're certainly not trying to have it slip off or things of that nature, but we haven't put the playoff word up on the board,” said first year Mystics coach Sydney Johnson. “We're trying to play a certain way, day in and day out.

“Didn't quite have it today, but we've had off practices and come back and then played great the next day.”

The Sun’s only other road win (2-15) came at Indiana on May 30.

Rookie Saniya Rivers scored 17 for Connecticut, Olivia Nelson Ododa scored 15 while Tina Charles had 13 rebounds and nine boards.

Aaliyah Edwards, Washington’s first round pick last season, scored eight against the Mystics who dealt her last week to the Sun.

Mystics rookie Sonia Citron, the No. 3 overall pick, scored 19 and passed Chamique Holdsclaw (525) for most rookie points in team history. Newcomer Kiki Iriafen, taken right behind Citron, just missed her fifth straight double double with nine points and 12 rebounds.

Shakira Austin added 12 while Jade Melborne scored 11 points.

The two teams meet again Thursday in Connecticut.