Less than two weeks after Natasha Cloud’s career-best outing left the Liberty humbled, New York answered back Saturday afternoon with an 85-66 win over the Chicago Sky.
The victory allows the Liberty, at least for the most part, to enter the FIBA World Cup break on a positive note.
Han Xu powered the effort off the bench with a season-high 19 points, while four other Liberty players reached double figures. Rebekah Gardner was among them, giving New York an important spark at Barclays Center with 11 points and four rebounds.
Still, Sabrina Ionescu will likely want to move past her Saturday performance quickly.
The Liberty guard endured an unusually rough shooting day, missing all 10 of her attempts from the field, including seven from inside the arc. Her only scoring came at the free-throw line, where she finished with two points.
She also contributed five rebounds and four assists.
It’s the latest in what’s been a worrisome shooting stretch for Ionescu, who’s gone 8-for-53 from deep over the past eight games. Before the game, coach Chris DeMarco said his confidence in Ionescu remains high.
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“There’s more to basketball than just scoring,” he said. “That’s why she’s been such a great player forever. It’s her ability to pass the ball, her ability to rebound. There’s more ways to impact the game. … The shot will come, no doubt about it. She’s a great shooter.”
But Ionescu hasn’t looked like herself all season, for that matter. She started the season with an injured left foot after she rolled her ankle in the team’s final preseason game.
Then she came back for a game before missing time with back soreness.
It took a few games for her to find her flow. She had a solid July and start to August, but has struggled as of late. It’s worth noting she missed the Liberty’s Aug. 15 game at Connecticut with a left foot injury.
Ionescu is averaging 15.6 points on 12.8 field goal attempts per game, her lowest marks since 2021. Her four rebounds per game are a career low.
Ionescu won’t be playing in the World Cup next month after she was left off the United States’ roster. She said she hopes to use this time to continue to get healthy and have fresh legs for the WNBA playoffs.