In the New York Liberty’s win over the Washington Mystics last Sunday, Jonquel Jones not only led the team’s offense with 29 points, but also established a new scoring high for her Liberty career. The win brought the Liberty to 11–2 overall and 5–0 in Commissioner’s Cup games, which guarantees homecourt for the Commissioner’s Cup Championship on June 25. New York has thus far accumulated $15,000 for Women Creating Change, the social justice organization selected by the team related to the Cup.
The Liberty returned to the Barclays Center on Sunday, admittedly tired from a three-game road trip, which included an 82–75 victory over the Connecticut Sun the day before that ended the Sun’s nine-game run to start the season. Against the Mystics, which is the bottom team in the WNBA, the Liberty struggled at times before prevailing 93–88.
“It was the professionalism,” said Jones. “We understood that regardless of the situation we’re in, we can use every game, every opportunity, to get better and be ready, so that in the playoffs, we’ll be able to say we’ve been tested in various situations.”
Fourth-year guard Sabrina Ionescu has been consistently scoring in double figures, including 24 points in the win over the Sun. Although USA Basketball had not made a final announcement at press time, it has been widely reported that Ionescu and Breanna Stewart will both be on the U.S. Olympic women’s basketball team this summer as it goes for an eighth consecutive gold medal. That will be a third Olympics for Stewart and a first for Ionescu, both of whom played on the winning U.S. World Cup team in 2022.
What has received a lot of attention is that this year’s top rookie, Caitlin Clark, will not be on the Olympic team. This has overshadowed those who will be on the team, from Diana Taurasi, 42, who is going for her sixth gold medal, to Alyssa Thomas, getting her first Olympic spot at age 32. Just so people remember, Ionescu is also a number one draft pick and a brilliant three-point shooter who earlier this year narrowly lost a three-point contest with Steph Curry. Why not give credit and earned respect where it’s due?
The Liberty have a few days off and are back in action on Saturday against the Las Vegas Aces in Las Vegas.