Five turnovers in the fourth quarter and a disappearing offense doomed the New York Liberty in an 83-77 loss to the Las Vegas Aces on Wednesday night.
Leading by two points at the start of the final frame, Sabrina Ionescu and Emma Meesseman continued their strong offensive production that they had all game, but they were the only Liberty players to do so, as New York scored ust 14 points in the fourth.
Ionescu accounted for eight of them, and Meesseman scored the other six. While they couldn’t get points on the board, they were allowing Las Vegas to slowly break away.
The Aces went 23-of-28 from the charity stripe in the game, and 15-of-18 in the final 10 minutes. Las Vegas outscored New York in the frame just from the charity stripe.
Vegas had a quick start with Chelsea Gray notching five of her team’s first 10 points. The Liberty’s offense came slower, but steady, and a pair of free throws from Leonie Fiebich tied the score at 12 at the 5:25 mark of the opening quarter.
New York attacked more and went on a 12-4 run to lead 24-18 with just 17 seconds left. Jonquel Jones scored six points in the quarter, with four of them coming in the run.
The Aces were in control to start the second quarter, going on a 10-2 run to take a 30-26 lead at the 6:33 mark. Neither team grabbed an offensive rebound in the first quarter but Las Vegas hauled in two early, forcing New York’s defense to step up.
The competitive energy skyrocketed and didn’t waver in the frame. Both teams played with high intensity, denying the other to break away. The score stayed close but the Liberty was hanging on to their advantage by a string and went into halftime with a 43-40 lead after a three from Fiebich.
Meesseman looks like she’s been with New York for the entire season rather than just six games. She led the way in the first half with 12 points and six rebounds. The Aces never found a way to stop Meesseman as she was a threat everywhere on the court and finished the game with 24 points and 10 rebounds, her first double double as a Liberty.
Las Vegas was fueled by the trio of Gray, A’ja Wilson, and Jewell Loyd. Gray only sat for one minute in the first half and tallied 11 points. Wilson also contributed 11 and Loyd nine. The trio were scoring at all three levels, making the Liberty’s life on defense hard.
The Aces opened the second half with the same energy they had in the first and NaLyssa Smith grabbed Gray’s missed shot and put it back up just 30 seconds into the third quarter.
New York tried to consistently add points to the board but were forced to slow down some as it was trying to combat Las Vegas’ physicality. The Liberty were fouled four times in the first two-and-a-half minutes.
Ionescu and Meesseman got past the defense and accounted for the Liberty’s first 11 points in the third quarter before Kennedy Burke aided on the offensive end.
New York has endured a lot of injuries this season, with Burke being one of them. Burke hasn’t played due to a calf strain since July 26, but was back in the lineup against the Aces. She saw 16-and-a-half minutes of action and recorded eight points on 50% shooting.
Loyd was getting anything she wanted from deep, especially in the third quarter. She went 3-of-5 from three-point range in the frame and made five triples in the game to tally a team-high 21 points.
Jackie Young was feeding off Loyd and scored on an and-one three-pointer to pass the Liberty 59-58 with 2:06 to go before the final quarter.
New York had the 63-61 advantage at the start of the fourth quarter but both teams were looking for a way to break away. The Liberty couldn’t build momentum with the amount of game stoppage there was, mostly due to their own fouls or turnovers.
New York turned the ball over five times, which Las Vegas translated into eight points.
