New York Liberty head coach Sandy Brondello knows her reigning WNBA championship team isn’t getting any sympathy during its longest losing streak since 2022.
The Liberty’s skid reached four games on Friday with a 78-62 road loss to the Connecticut Sun. The two teams will play again on Sunday afternoon in Uncasville, Conn.
“The messaging there is no one feels sorry for us,” Brondello said in Friday’s postgame news conference. “In the end, it’s good for us. We’ve faced some adversity. We just have to keep staying together and play hard.”
The Liberty (17-10) committed 23 turnovers and were playing with only eight healthy players against the Sun (5-21), who won for the second time in their last seven games and own the league’s worst record.
“It came down to bringing our best effort. We didn’t do that,” Brondello said. “I was happy with our effort against the Lynx the other night (a 100-93 loss). You can’t just get up for the best teams and forget about the teams at the bottom. Anyone can beat anyone.”
The Sun, who are averaging a league-low 74.7 points per outing, played well defensively against a Liberty squad that averages a league-best 86.9 points per game.
“Our offense is not the greatest part of our team,” Connecticut’s Marina Mabrey said. “So, just understanding that defense is going to lead to easier buckets on our offense for us, so we can never take a break defensively.”
Sabrina Ionescu proved tough to slow down for the Sun, scoring 23 points to go along with seven rebounds and five assists. She’s averaging 19.8 points per game.
Mabrey helped lead the way for the Sun, collecting 18 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists.
The Liberty still are missing several key players, including Breanna Stewart, who is out with a bruise in her right knee. No timetable is set for the return of Stewart, who is putting up 18.3 points per contest.
New York hopes the addition of 2019 WNBA Finals MVP Emma Meesseman will help end the team’s skid. Meesseman, who was signed to the team on Friday, is expected to play Sunday.
“I think that today we were better than this team, so hopefully we will be, again, better on Sunday,” Connecticut head coach Rachid Meziane said.
–Field Level Media
