Jonquel Jones saw her hook shot rattle around the rim and fall out, and then New York Liberty fans saw Jones crumple to the floor after landing on Kiki Iriafen’s right foot. Jones suffered an ankle sprain midway through the first quarter, clear as day, and while there are plenty of more devastating injuries in basketball, watching the 2025 WNBA Finals MVP hobble to the locker room was unpleasant.
Though Jones “tried to come back at halftime,” per Head Coach Sandy Brondello, the ankle just wasn’t quite right.
With Nyara Sabally out for a sixth straight game, New York was especially thin up front on Thursday night, and their depth would be truly tested playing the Washington Mystics for the second time in a week.
Test: passed. Breanna Stewart continued to struggle on any sort of jumper, but forced her way in 26 points and 11 boards on 8-of-16 shooting, 10-of-13 from the line. Beyond her efforts, the Liberty played characteristically hounding defense and relied on chip-ins from all nine players who touched the court.
New York was trailing 16-13 when Jones got hurt, and ended the first quarter down 22-17. Despite the contest being a Commissioner’s Cup game, it felt spooky, especially with the Mystics just having seen them.
But Brondello’s team dominated the second quarter 32-12, with Leonie Fiebich and Rebekah Gardner leading the way. Fiebich had another quiet scoring night — just nine points on five FGA — but packed most of that production into the second while deflecting every pass Washington threw. Gardner, who finished with a game-high +14 plus-minus, did too; seven of her nine points came in the second.
Said Brondello: “I probably could have played her a little bit more ... but she was good, and she’s just so crafty. I mean, defensively, she gets better every game, and I think she just makes plays. When the ball comes to her, she makes really good plays.”
Another star was Kennedy Burke. Entering 2025, she had to shoot the three-ball to earn minutes on this team, stacked with true bigs. Well, after going 4-of-4 from deep against Washington, she’s above 59% on the year, on real volume too. What more can you say?
“Certainly,” said Brondello, “we’ve needed all of those 3-point shots too, and I think it’s just coming from the work she put in in the offseason, and the confidence that she has in that shot, and the confidence that we have in her taking that shot.”
Marine Johannès added a 3-pointer in the third quarter, and though Natasha Cloud’s scoring passivity continued with just four shots, wide-ranging contributions were enough to put the Liberty up double-digits heading into the fourth quarter. Even Sabrina Ionescu, who struggled mightily from the field (3-of-17), she wasn’t truly terrible. Without Jones, the ball found her hands even more, and her seven assists evidenced plenty of high-level plays...
It took until the fourth quarter, but finally, some of Sabrina’s misses caught up with the Libs. Behind a chain-linked switching defense, the Mystics cut the deficit to two possessions in the final frame
Jonquel Jones has been New York’s switch-beater all season, heading down to the post to feast on smaller, weaker defenders, but without her New York’s offense stalled out. Third-string big Isabelle Harrison, playing by far her most consequential minutes of the young season, had to save the day for the Liberty, and she did.
Harrison, a first-year Lib, followed up a momentum-halting and-1 with this pick-six, and it served as the dagger...
Unprompted in the postgame interview, Brondello heaped praise on Harrison: “But, Izzy Harrison. I mean, we have to compliment what she did. Able to come in and — I mean, they got some big posts there. So we needed Izzy.”
Indeed, rookie sensation Kiki Iriafen led Washington with 17 points, and guard Jade Melbourne once again gave the Liberty trouble off the bench, but it wasn’t enough for the hosts. Brittney Sykes posted more turnovers than made shots against a team that, despite the absence of Jones, is still longer and more annoying than any other in the W...
Outside of Jones, every Liberty player saw at least 13 minutes. They closed with Isabelle Harrison on the court, while Marine Johannès and Kennedy Burke also saw fourth-quarter minutes.
Said Sabrina Ionescu of the game’s most closing lineup: “We haven’t practiced that combination many times. And for them to come in and be so effective ... that’s that ‘next man up’ mentality. We have belief in every single player on this team, and when your number is called, you got to be ready to go out and help us win a game. And today, I think we saw, collectively, we were able to do that.”
**Final Score: New York Liberty 86, Washington Mystics 78**
**A record for Sabrina**
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Despite the rough overall shooting night, Sabrina Ionescu did make two early 3-pointers. The first one marked #400 in her career, and the next #401. Those makes tied and passed Crystal Robinson as the all-time franchise leader...
Now, the greatest shooter in Liberty history not only has the most made threes, but Ionescu also became the quickest player in WNBA history to 400 makes. Of course it was Diana Taurasi that she passed, by seven games.
Ionescu kept it chill after the game: “I didn’t know about the \[being\] quickest one in the league, so that’s kind of news to me, but obviously knew about the franchise record. In the locker room, they gave me the game ball.”
**Next Up**
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While the New York Liberty wait for an injury update on Jonquel Jones, they also await their next opponent at Barclays Center. They’ll take on the Chicago Sky on Tuesday evening, with tip-off scheduled for 8:00 p.m. ET.