Sabrina Ionescu would not let the New York Liberty falter, knocking down seven 3-pointers on her way to scoring 31 points in an 89-88 overtime victory over the visiting Washington Mystics on Sunday afternoon.
The Liberty’s Courtney Vandersloot forced OT on a layup with two seconds left, and New York (9-3) finished off a wild victory from there.
New York’s Breanna Stewart made a shot and was fouled with 19.7 seconds to play in overtime, hitting the ensuing free throw to put the Liberty up 89-88.
Washington’s Elena Delle Donne missed a layup with 3.8 seconds left and teammate Myisha Hines-Allen had a shot fall short off the glass as the Liberty hung on for the stunning comeback win, extending their winning streak to three games.
Stewart scored 18 points and Betnijah Laney added 17 for the Liberty, who beat Washington for the first time in two tries this season.
The Mystics (8-5) saw their three-game winning streak snapped despite a season-best 24 points from Ariel Atkins, who was 6 of 7 from 3-point range. Natasha Cloud added 23 points while Delle Donne (15 points) and Brittney Sykes (13) also scored in double figures.
New York improved to 5-3 in Commissioner’s Cup games, while Washington fell to 3-4.
New York took its first lead of the day at 65-64 with 6:04 remaining in regulation after Stewart made a jumper, but the Mystics responded on the sixth 3-pointer of the day by Atkins with 5:38 to go for a 67-65 lead.
Washington led 9-0 early, hitting its first four shots from the floor, while the Liberty missed their first seven, including three from distance, and called a timeout. Washington then led 13-0 before Laney scored off a layup with just over six minutes left in the period.
The Liberty kept pushing, trimming their deficit to 25-15 with 30 seconds to go in the opening quarter after back-to-back 3-pointers by Ionescu and Marine Johannes.
Washington led 27-17 after one quarter and stretched its advantage to 31-17 after two free throws and a jumper near the free-throw line by Delle Donne to open the second.
Despite shooting only 33.3 percent before the break, New York closed the first half on a 19-10 run and trailed 45-39 at intermission.
–Field Level Media
