The New York Liberty aim to defeat the visiting Indiana Fever for the third straight time this season when the clubs meet Sunday afternoon.
The Liberty beat visiting Indiana 90-73 on May 21 in the first meeting, but the Fever put up a tough fight on July 12 before succumbing 95-87 in overtime in Indianapolis.
New York (15-5) is coming off Friday’s 96-87 road victory over the Washington Mystics. The contest is notable in that it marks the first time in franchise history that the Liberty had three players record a double-double in the same game.
Jonquel Jones led the way with 27 points and 11 rebounds, Breanna Stewart recorded 24 points and 10 boards and Sabrina Ionescu added 16 points, 11 rebounds and nine assists.
The performance of Jones was pleasing after she failed to reach double-digit scoring in three of the previous eight games.
“I think she has been overthinking a little bit,” Liberty coach Sandy Brondello told reporters of Jones. “Every game is different. We got better from last game. We needed every bit of her 27 (points) and 11 (rebounds).”
Jones is averaging 11.2 points and 6.5 rebounds in her first season with the Liberty. She was a four-time All-Star and was league MVP in 2021 during six seasons with the Connecticut Sun.
Ionescu scored 34 points in New York’s recent win over Indiana. Fever rookie star Aliyah Boston scored 23.
Indiana (6-15) lost eight straight games before posting an 82-76 road victory over Washington on Wednesday.
The victory allowed the Fever to surpass last year’s mark when they were an WNBA-worst 5-31.
Indiana had been playing better even before it defeated the Mystics behind Kelsey Mitchell’s 18 points, five assists and four steals.
The Fever lost 77-76 to the Dallas Wings on July 9 when Lexie Hull’s 3-pointer was off the mark with 1.1 seconds left. Against New York, Boston drained a buzzer-beating trey to force overtime before the Liberty controlled the extra session.
“It’s just about finishing,” Indiana’s Emma Cannon said of the close calls. “We’ve been in a lot of those situations, so I feel like we’ve learned from them. We’ve had a lot of learning points from that.”
NaLyssa Smith (foot) will miss her third consecutive game for the Fever. Hull (broken nose) is slated to return after a two-game absence.
–Field Level Media
