The New York Liberty were trailing for most of the game Saturday night, falling by as many as 15 points against the Los Angeles Sparks. However, the Liberty crawled their way back and tied the score at 95 with 2:18 left in the game.
Neither team could build momentum in the final two minutes to break away and the score was level at 99 with just 5.2 seconds remaining on the clock.
Los Angeles’ Rickea Jackson looked to set a screen at the top of the key but when Natasha Cloud glued to her player, Jackson instead went down into the paint and started posting up Stephanie Talbot.
Dearica Hamby passed the ball to Jackson, who took one dribble step toward the basket and threw up the ball. The shot fell through the rim just as the buzzer was sounding to give Los Angeles the 101-99 win.
“Rickea was killing us with her size,” said head coach Sandy Brondello. “Leo [Fiebich] was on her the play before, and still scored over as well, and that’s one of our best defenders. She played really well. I think they’ve integrated her well into this lineup here, and yeah, she managed to have a play at the end.”
The Liberty started the game with Jonquel Jones, Sabrina Ionescu, and Breanna Stewart all knocking down threes to take a 9-5 lead after two minutes of play. However, Stewart – who leads New York in points per game – was only in the game for a few more possessions and didn’t return with a lower leg injury.
Stewart’s absence was felt on both ends of the court throughout the entire game. Sabrina Ionescu and Cloud took over scoring with 30 and 22 points, respectively, but New York struggled mightily on the defensive end without the veteran forward who can guard any position.
The Sparks took their chance from beyond the arc and it paid off, going 7-of-10 in the frame. Kelsey Plum and Jackson both made three triples to pull away from the Liberty and go into the second quarter with a 35-20 lead.
Jackson was crucial for her squad (aside from the winning shot), recording 17 first-quarter points. She averages 13 points per game this season, but tallied 24 Saturday night.
Ionescu opened the second quarter with a three, looking to take command and give her team momentum. While she scored 17 in the first half, the Liberty couldn’t build off her, nor could they stop the Sparks on defense.
“Pick and roll defense wasn’t great,” said guard Marine Johannès. “We tried to force them to play more in the paint because in the first half they had a lot of three-point shots. After, they scored everything in the paint so it was a tough night for us on defense.”
Rae Burrell scored nine in the quarter and Hamby added six to help keep Los Angeles’ 58-45 lead at the end of the second quarter.
Coming out of halftime, New York looked to get the better of Los Angeles, and did for most of the quarter. Johannès and Cloud scored nine and five points, respectively to lead the charge in a 16-6 Liberty run to cut their deficit to 68-63 with 2:43 left in the third quarter. Both sides scored six more points to end the quarter with the Sparks leading 74-69.
Ionescu and Cloud did all they could on offense to get the Liberty close but it wasn’t enough to get over the hump to take the lead. Anytime they got a bucket and started to create momentum, their defense lacked, allowing the Sparks to halt everything New York tried.
“Sandy was really happy about the second half, but sometimes it’s not enough,” Johannès said. “Also losing Stewie and KB for sure, it’s something huge for us. I think we had everything to be great tonight. But LA, credit to them, they are being really good right now.”
