With a Dallas Wings squad ready to play spoiler against the WNBA’s top seed, the Liberty were faced with a scenario that surely would’ve triggered a reoccurring issue that plagued them in the first half of the season.
Jonquel Jones recording early fouls on top of the stars Sabrina Ionescu (neck) and Betnijah Laney-Hamilton (knee) out with injuries felt like an indicator to one of the Liberty’s biggest issues: long second-quarter offensive droughts.
It was a one of the biggest issues on a star-studded roster. And it’s to blame for half of the team’s four losses so far this season. But on Thursday night, Sandy Brondello’s squad didn’t allow the shortcomings to result in a fifth loss.
Proving that the issue is in the rearview mirror — for now — the Liberty started the second on an 11-0 run to go up, 25-17 at the 6:34 mark. The run was spearheaded by Jones, who scored seven of the 11 points during that stretch. She eventually ended the night with 13 points and 13 rebounds.
Then, Jones recorded her third personal foul with four minutes remaining in the second. The star center — like she’s done so many times this season — headed to the bench with her team forced to weather the storm without her.
But there was no storm. Breanna Stewart, Leonie Fiebich and the reserves anchored the team to a 21-15 second-quarter advantage going into halftime. And the liberty later secured a 79-71 victory at Barclays Center.
Stewart finished with a game-high 19 points while Fiebich contributed 16 of her own.
Kennedy Burke and Kayla Thornton stayed in front of Satou Sabally, making sure she never got a clear look at the rim. Stewart — on an off night from deep — got to the free throw line for four attempts and Fiebich contributed a trey to keep the Liberty rolling.
On a night Brondello was missing her two starting guards, the depth of the team shined.
“Yeah 100 percent. That’s the luxury isn’t it,” Brondello said pregame of the Liberty having trusted role players while key players deal with injuries. “We all go through injuries, every team has this year. We’ve liked out bench. … More people out [means] more opportunities for the others. And it’s been great for us to see how it all works together. And then on the flip side, we have to put them all back together again once we do have the full complete roster. But we’re excited. I think we’ve got a really deep bench.”
Second-quarter droughts led to an upset loss at home against the Chicago Sky on May 23. And it led to another loss to the Phoenix Mercury on June 19. The Liberty combined to lose those second quarters, 47-31.
In those droughts, the offense would settle for treys, opposing guards faced less resistance at the point of attack and opposing teams would seemingly outhustle the Liberty.
But that hasn’t been the case as the team returned to action following the Olympic break.
In the first WNBA game back after Team USA’s gold-medal game, the Liberty outscored the Los Angeles Sparks, 28-18, on Aug. 15. Then the Libs dominated the Aces, 18-8 after allowing 28 first-quarter points.
In Tuesday’s win against the Sparks, they lost the second, 23-22, but looked more competitive and eventually won in comfortable fashion.
The growth is another piece added to the puzzle for a championship-caliber team looking to avenge last season’s WNBA Finals loss.
And — for now — it’s one less issue to worry about as Brondello gets her team back to full power.