The New York Liberty are looking to complete a season sweep of Connecticut when they visit the Sun on Saturday afternoon in Uncasville, Conn.
The Liberty opened the campaign with a breezy 106-75 home victory against the Sun on May 8 and followed up with an 89-80 road win on June 8. Breanna Stewart had a combined 59 points and 19 rebounds in the two wins.
New York (21-14) has won five of its last six games overall and is coming off an 85-81 home victory Thursday against the Los Angeles Sparks.
The Liberty avoided an epic collapse against the Sparks by blowing a 28-point lead. They were outscored 40-18 in the fourth quarter and allowed 21 consecutive points to Los Angeles.
Sabrina Ionescu scored 12 of her 20 points in the fourth quarter but finished 6 of 17 from the floor and 1 of 9 from 3-point range. Stewart scored just 11 points and has been held under 20 in the past three games.
“We let go of the rope a little bit,” Liberty coach Chris DeMarco said. “We have to put together 40-minute games. It was just funky overall. So I’m just proud of the group for sticking together and we were connected most of the night.”
The Sun (8-24) have lost six of their last seven games, with opponents shooting 53% during that stretch and 37.5% from 3-point distance.
On Thursday, Connecticut conceded 14 triples in a 104-69 home loss to the Atlanta Dream, marking the third time the Sun surrendered at least 14 treys and the sixth time they yielded at least 100 points.
The Sun were held to 30% shooting against Atlanta and their starting five, led by Charlisse Leger-Walker’s eight points, were a combined 9 of 26 from the floor. Aaliyah Edwards paced Connecticut with 15 points off the bench.
“Defensively we paid with every mistake we did make,” said Sun coach Rachid Meziane, whose team trailed by as many as 37 points.
–Field Level Media
