First-year WNBA coach Chris DeMarco gets a Bay Area reunion when the former Golden State Warriors assistant leads the New York Liberty against the Golden State Valkyries in San Francisco on Sunday night.
The Liberty (12-7) will make their only visit to Northern California at the end of a four-game trip that has seen them lose two of three, including a 99-88 loss to Seattle on Thursday night.
New York will be further motivated to avenge an earlier 87-70 home loss to the Valkyries, a game in which the visitors outscored the Liberty 39-18 from beyond the arc.
The Liberty played that day without Sabrina Ionescu, a former high school star across the San Francisco Bay near Oakland.
One of the top prep players in Bay Area history, Ionescu found time in her busy schedule to return to her alma mater, Miramonte High in Orinda, on Friday to celebrate the renaming of the school’s gym in her honor.
“She is not a retired legend being honored in hindsight; she is a living, breathing, active athlete in the prime of her career, shaping the sports world in real time,” Kelly Sopak, Ionescu’s high school and club coach, said of the 2016 graduate. “That makes this moment even more extraordinary.”
Ionescu has played six consecutive games since returning from back and foot injuries. She had a double-double with 16 points and 10 rebounds in the Liberty’s only win on their current trip Tuesday night in Las Vegas.
For the Valkyries (12-7), the game continues the navigation of a scheduling gauntlet, one in which Golden State will play seven straight games against teams in the top six in the league in wins.
The Valkyries have gone 3-2 so far in the run, with wins over the Dallas Wings and two over the Atlanta Dream, and losses to the Minnesota Lynx and Las Vegas Aces. The stretch ends with a third game in 11 days against the Dream in Atlanta next Saturday.
Golden State coach Natalie Nakase was impressed with her team’s ability to sweep two consecutive home games over the Dream in the past four days, taking time to single out veteran center Kiah Stokes, who blocked seven shots in Friday’s 78-75 win.
“It’s just Kiah’s hard work,” Nakase gushed to reporters of the 33-year-old who played her first 5 1/2 seasons with the Liberty. “You can see the confidence that she’s playing with. Seven blocks and 13 points — that’s unreal, but we needed it.”
–Field Level Media
