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Posts tagged as “Jonquel Jones”

Fever suffer their second home loss to the Liberty (90 – 88)

The Indiana Fever suffered another heartbreaking home loss, falling to the New York Liberty after clawing back from a 15-point deficit. Despite a dominant third quarter where the Fever outscored the Liberty 30-13, they couldn’t maintain the momentum, managing only 12 points in the fourth quarter while the Liberty scored 22. Sabrina Ionescu sealed the win for New York with two crucial free throws at the end of the game. The win will keep the Liberty unbeaten 4 games into the season, while the Fever will have a 2 – 2 standing.

Jonquel Jones led the Liberty with a double-double of 26 points and 12 rebounds. Sabrina Ionescu contributed 23 points, 5 rebounds, and 4 assists, while Breanna Stewart and Natasha Cloud each added 16 points.

For the Indiana Fever, Caitlin Clark had another challenging shooting night, going 6-of-19 from the field, including 2-of-12 from three-point range. Despite her struggles, she spearheaded the third-quarter surge with a four-point play and a buzzer-beating shot to end the quarter. Clark finished with 18 points, 5 rebounds, and 10 assists. Aliyah Boston delivered another stellar performance, tallying 27 points and 13 rebounds. Kelsey Mitchell and Lexie Hull each chipped in 15 points. Natasha Howard, the hero of their previous game, was limited to 6 points and 8 rebounds.

The Indiana Fever will travel to Washington this Thursday evening, while the Liberty will host the Golden State Valkyries on Wednesday night.

New York Liberty defeats Minnesota Lynx in OT to win their first WNBA Championship (67 – 62)

New York Liberty defeated the Minnesota Lynx in a classic Game 5 OT to take home the franchise first WNBA Championship. It was a low scoring ballgame, which is understandable, since both team have a defensive mindset right out of the gate. By the end of regulation, both team only managed to score 60 points, compare to the last 4 games, where the winning team scores at least 80 points.

Breanna Stewart has a chance to tie the game but misses both of the free throw with 38 secs remaining in regulation but Minnesota Lynx failed to capitalize on the possession and gave Breanna Stewart another chance to redeem herself by sinking bother of her free throw to tie and send the game to over time. Then in OT, Liberty took over by limiting Lynx to just 2 points while scoring 7 points; a 23-footer three point jumper by Leonie Fiebich, a two point lay-up by Nyara Sabally of a steal and a 2-for-2 free throw by Breanna Stewart to seal the game.

Like in the previous game, Minnesota Lynx was able to limit New York Liberty’s stars; Breanna Stewart just scored 13 points but was a monster on the boards, grabbing a game high 15 rebounds. Sabrina Ionescu just scored 5 points but impacted the game by keeping her teammates involved in the game by dishing 8 assists with 7 rebounds and 2 steals. Jonquel Jones, who won the WNBA Finals MVP, scored a team high 17 points and grabbed 6 rebounds.

Prior to the 2024 WNBA season, NY Liberty is one of the eight original franchises of the league that has yet to win a championship and the team have been in the WNBA Finals 5 times before winning it all this year.

New York Liberty evens the series behind Stewart and Laney-Hamilton (80 – 66)

Doug Feinberg – AP Basketball Writer via WNBA;

Breanna Stewart wasn’t going to let history repeat itself.

With the Minnesota Lynx making another fourth quarter run, the two-time league MVP refused to let the New York Liberty lose again.

Stewart scored 21 points and had a WNBA Finals record seven steals to help the Liberty beat the Lynx 80-66 on Sunday in Game 2 of the WNBA Finals.

Just like Game 1, New York built a double-digit lead in the first half, only to see it evaporate. This time they didn’t completely collapse, holding on to even the series 1-1 as it shifts to Minnesota for Game 3 on Wednesday night.

New York Liberty made sure that Minnesota Lynx won’t be stealing this game, even after the Lynx erasing the Liberty’s 9-point lead early in the 4th qtr, to just 2 points. But from the 3:40 mark in the final qtr the New York Liberty went on a 12 to nothing run to build a 14-point cushion to end the game.

There are four Liberty players who scored double-digits points, you have the regulars like Breanna Stewart who lead the team in almost every category, she had 21 points, 8 rebounds, 5 assists, 7 steals and 1 block. Sabrina Ionescu, because of the “Caitlin Clark” treatment that she received, was not able to score in the 2nd half but was a big contributor in the first half. She added 15 points, 4 rebounds and 5 assists.

Then you also have the towering Jonquel Jones who was also a monster on the boards and got some timely tip in to help secure the W for the Liberty. Jones scored 14 points, a game-high 9 rebounds and 2 steals. Then there’s Betnijah Laney-Hamilton, who was the unlikely-hero of the team by draining 4 pressure packed three-pointers, she end up with 20-points with 2 rebounds and 2 assists.

The next two games of the WNBA Finals will be hosted by the Minnesota Lynx. Game 3 will be this Wednesday, Oct 16, 2024 at the Target Center Minneapolis.