Sabrina Ionescu poured in 20 points, 16 of them in a torrid first quarter, as the visiting New York Liberty pummeled the Dallas Wings 99-67 on Thursday in Arlington, Texas, in the second game between the teams in a three-night span.
New York (31-6) won its fifth straight contest and carries a 3 1/2-game lead over the Minnesota Lynx for the top seed in the playoffs into its final three games of the regular season. Minnesota was idle on Thursday, has four games left and plays at home against the Chicago Sky on Friday in advance of the final showdown of the year between the Liberty and the Lynx on Sunday in Brooklyn, N.Y.
Betnijah Laney-Hamilton added 17 points for New York, and Breanna Stewart and Courtney Vandersloot scored 11 points each in abbreviated appearances. Neither Ionescu nor Stewart played in the fourth quarter with the game well in hand.
Maddy Siegrist and Arike Ogunbowale scored 11 points each to lead Dallas. The Wings (9-28), one of two teams in the league eliminated from the postseason, lost their sixth straight game.
Ogunbowale became the Wings’ all-time scoring leader with her performance on Thursday. She now has 3,972 career points.
The Liberty roared out of the gate, scoring the game’s first nine points over the initial 1:30 of the opening quarter. New York led by as many as 10 in the period, as Ionescu outscored the Wings by herself in the quarter, hitting 4 of 5 shots from beyond the arc. The Liberty led 25-15 after the first 10 minutes of play.
New York didn’t let up, boosting its lead to 40-21 after a bucket and two free throws by Laney-Hamilton, the latter with 5:10 to play in the second quarter. The Liberty expanded their lead to 21 late in the quarter before settling for a 50-32 edge at the break.
Ionescu led all scorers with 16 points before halftime, and Laney-Hamilton added 12 for the Liberty. Natasha Howard paced Dallas with eight points.
Dallas trimmed its deficit to 14 points via an 8-2 run that was capped by Satou Sabally’s running layup to open the third quarter. But the Liberty responded, rolling to a 63-41 advantage when Vandersloot scored on a running layup with 5:32 left in the period. New York carried a 73-55 lead into the final quarter.
–Field Level Media
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