The reigning WNBA champion New York Liberty look to extend their undefeated start to the 2025 season on Thursday when they host the expansion Golden State Valkyries for the second time in as many games in Brooklyn.
New York (4-0) overwhelmed Golden State in Tuesday’s 95-67 decision behind 24 points from Breanna Stewart. Marine Johannes added another 18 points on 6-of-11 3-point shooting off the bench.
As the Liberty were forcing 20 turnovers, the Valkyries (2-2) became the third New York opponent to lose by 14 or more points in the season’s opening weeks.
“Taking care of the ball. That’s really key,” Golden State coach Natalie Nakase said. “Especially (against) a team that likes to play in transition, and then they like to shoot (3-pointers) in transition, so that’s kind of like a double hit.”
Johannes’ six triples paced New York to 14-of-35 shooting from deep as a team. Every Liberty starter made at least one 3-point attempt in Tuesday’s romp, bumping their season output to 44 makes from beyond the arc on 117 attempts.
New York’s long-range shooting has contributed to an early-season league-best 94 points scored per game, led by Stewart’s 19.3. Jonquel Jones adds 16.8 points per contest, Natasha Cloud has contributed 15.3 and Sabrina Ionescu is scoring 13.8 an outing.
“Offensively, we want to push the pace, we want to move the ball, we want to know we’re constantly putting teams into rotations,” Stewart said. “Whether we score 90…we still feel like there’s more we can score.”
In similar fashion, New York hopes to repeat its lowest defensive allowance through the first four games. Golden State’s 67 points on Tuesday were seven fewer than the Liberty surrendered in a May 22 rout of Chicago.
The Valkyries scored 67 points in their regular-season debut against Phoenix, and have yet to produce more than 82 points through the franchise’s first four contests.
At 12.8 points per game, Golden State’s leading scorer, Kayla Thornton is averaging a full point less per contest than New York’s fourth-leading producer, Ionescu.
–Field Level Media
