Bahamian professional women’s basketball player Jonquel ‘JJ’ Jones picked up her second double-double of the 2025 Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) season, helping the New York Liberty narrowly get by the Indiana Fever, 90-88, at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Indiana, on Saturday.
Jones had the hot hand, particularly in the fourth quarter, and ended the game with a team-high 26 points, while adding 12 boards, three assists and one block in 36 minutes of action.
She shot 9-for-15 on her field goals and was 6-for-7 at the free throw line.
The 2024 WNBA Finals Most Valuable Player (MVP) helped the Liberty, the defending champions, improve to a 3-0 win/loss record on the season. Meanwhile, the Fever now own a 2-2 record.
It was a competitive matchup between the Fever and Liberty, as the game featured multiple lead changes and runs throughout the four quarters.
The Liberty built a 15-point lead early in the second quarter after Sabrina Ionescu was successful on a three-point play with 5:12 remaining in the first half.
The Fever trimmed the deficit down to nine, 55-46, going into the third quarter, and then briefly took control of the game.
Fever point guard Caitlin Clark set up her teammate Kelsey Mitchell for a three-pointer that tied the game at 65 apiece with under three minutes remaining in the third quarter.
Clark closed out the third period with a deep stepback three that put her team in charge of the game, 76-68, with one quarter to go.
The defending champions were outscored 30-13 in the third quarter after being up by double digits in the first half, but the 2024 WNBA Finals MVP answered when her number was called in the fourth quarter.
“I think I started off the game pretty aggressively. I think just through the flow of the game, we have different looks and different shots and things that go on. I think it’s part of my role on this team just to be ready when my number is called and to stay locked into the game. I think it’s an area of growth for me from last year.
“I think sometimes I did get kind of out of the game and I kind of felt myself slipping into that a little bit during halftime, and I kind of just talked myself out of it and just understanding that there is no room for that. It’s just going out there playing, trusting my teammates and trusting that we are going to make the right plays for each other because that’s what makes us successful as a team and just playing the game,” she said at the postgame presser.
Jones responded to the call and put up 14 of her 26 points in the final quarter of play.
After trailing 80-68 early in the fourth quarter, the Liberty mounted a 14-2 scoring run that was capped off by back-to-back three pointers from Jones.
New York took the lead 84-82 with 4:52 remaining in the game.
With under eight seconds left, the game was tied, 88-88, before Ionescu made a trip to the charity stripe and converted two clutch free throws.
Fever guard Clark had the ball on the final possession, but she lost it to New York guard Natasha Cloud and the Libs held on for their third straight victory.
Jones shared her thoughts on the game’s intensity.
“We just knew that coming into this game it was going to be a really tough game for us and that they were going to try to do a lot of things to obviously win, and that the crowd was going to be loud, and they were going to have a lot of energy. A lot of teams get up to play us, and they’re excited, and they mark that game off on their calendars, so we got to be ready for that, but I think we did a really good job of regrouping,” she said.
Aliyah Boston led the Fever in scoring with a game-high 27 points and pulled down 13 rebounds in 36 minutes.
Clark had 18 points and 10 assists, but her performance was marred by 10 turnovers. Additionally, she shot 6-for-18 from the field and was 2-for-7 from deep.
New York will now look to extend their three-game winning streak to four against when they take on the Golden State Valkyries on Tuesday at 7 p.m. on their home court, at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.