Bahamian professional women’s basketball player Jonquel ‘JJ’ Jones and the New York Liberty fell to the Minnesota Lynx, 83–71, in a rematch of the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) Finals at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, on Sunday.
The 2024 WNBA Finals Most Valuable Player (MVP) had 11 points, six rebounds, and five assists, along with three blocks in 32 minutes of play. She shot 4-for-7 from the field and missed her only three-point attempt.
It was just the second meeting between the Liberty, the league’s reigning champions, and the Lynx since New York won the best-of-five series, 3–2, in last season’s WNBA Finals. In their only other regular season matchup so far this year, the Lynx won, 100-93, and lead the season series two games to none.
With the latest victory, the Lynx improved to a league-leading 27-5 (win/loss record), while the Liberty fell to 20-11 for the season.
Despite both teams missing the services of star players — Breanna Stewart (New York) and Napheesa Collier (Minnesota) — the game was tightly contested throughout the first half.
It was a back-and-forth affair in the first period. Minnesota’s Courtney Williams knocked down a pull-up jumper off an assist from the recently acquired Dijonai Carrington at the 1:10 mark to give her team a narrow 25-22 lead.
Jones responded with a layup, cutting the deficit to one. The Liberty trailed 25-24 after one.
The Liberty’s Isabelle Harrison helped the defending champions create some separation on the scoreboard in the second period. She was fouled on a floater at the 6:47 mark and converted the and-one opportunity, giving New York a six-point cushion, 32-26.
Minnesota eventually drew even, tying the score at 32 apiece, but back-to-back makes at the charity stripe by Sabrina Ionescu put the Liberty back in front, 38-36, at halftime.
Jones was fouled on a shot attempt with less than eight minutes to go in the third and made both free throws to give the Liberty a 44-36 edge. Shortly afterwards, the Lynx gained all the momentum. They mounted an insurmountable third-quarter surge.
Minnesota erupted on a 24-7 scoring run midway through the third quarter and pushed the lead to double digits, 64-54, following a three-pointer by Natisha Hiedeman.
The Lynx led 66-57 heading into the fourth quarter, and the Liberty were unable to dig themselves out of the hole.
Kayla McBride paced Minnesota with a game-high 18 points, and added two assists, and one rebound in 34 minutes of play.
The Lynx shot the ball well, converting 48.6 percent of their field goals while holding the defending champions to 42.4 percent shooting.
They were also lethal from three-point territory, hitting 47.6 percent of their shots from beyond the arc, while the Liberty converted just 33.3 percent of their attempts from long range.
Next up for the Liberty is the Los Angeles Sparks on Tuesday night at 10 p.m. at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, California.