Sabrina Ionescu is clutch, the NBA’s social media accounts proclaimed.
After Wednesday’s performance from the Liberty superstar, it’s hard to argue.
Ionescu put up a team-high 21 points, including a pair of buckets in crunch time, in the Liberty’s 71-68 win over the Sun to take sole possession of first place in the WNBA standings.
The Liberty won their sixth straight regular-season game against Connecticut dating to the 2023 season, and the victory was their 14th in their past 16 games.
Ionescu made her first basket of the fourth quarter with 1:58 remaining to give the Liberty a 69-68 lead. Ionescu missed a shot on the next two possessions, but she got another in the closing seconds after Breanna Stewart blocked a DeWanna Bonner attempt.
Ionescu dribbled down the clock before driving into the lane and sinking an off-balance shot for a three-point lead with 4.4 seconds left.
“I had missed two floaters before that that could have put the game away. I think it was just my teammates picking me up,” Ionescu said about the sequence that led to the crucial bucket.
“Understanding that we’re going to have another opportunity, and just trusting myself out there and what I’m able to do for this team obviously knowing the scoring, but also coming up big defensively when we needed in understanding what our scheme was there at the end. … Overall, just wanting to continue to get better as a player, and when you have great players around you that hold you to that standard, that’s the level that I come in with every single day.”
Connecticut passed it around the 3-point arc before Ionescu made the Liberty’s fourth block of the fourth quarter to end it at the buzzer.
Stewart came up with three blocks in the final two minutes of the win over Connecticut. She finished the game with 18 points and 14 rebounds.
“The one in transition, knowing it was literally one-on-one, I knew [DiJonai Carrington would] attack downhill,” Stewart said. “On [Bonner], knowing she has a series of shot fakes, she’s the one who will shoot at the end.”
Courtney Vandersloot finished with 11 points, and Jonquel Jones had 11 rebounds to go with eight points for the Liberty. Betnijah Laney-Hamilton (knee) did not play.
Bonner led Connecticut (17-5) with 22 points and nine rebounds. Brionna Jones had 17 points and eight boards, and Tyasha Harris scored 11.
Stewart and Ionescu combined for 20 points in the first quarter to help the Liberty build a 29-19 lead. But they were held to just 10 points in the second quarter, with four points from Stewart and Ionescu, as their lead was trimmed to 39-38 at the break.
Vandersloot opened and closed a 9-0 run to start the third quarter to rebuild a double-digit lead at 48-38.
Bonner made a long 3-pointer with 3:48 left in the fourth to give Connecticut its first lead, 66-65, since it was 5-4.
Wednesday’s game started at 11 a.m. as part of the Sun’s annual “Camp Da,y” which caters to local children and summer camps in Connecticut. Ionescu joked that she hoped the early start time was a one-time thing.
“Hopefully there won’t be too many more 11 a.m. games. It’s a little early,” she said.