It was 29 years ago — June 21, 1997 — that the New York Liberty and Los Angeles Sparks played the first-ever WNBA game. It was historic then and has greater significance today as the league has grown significantly. Packed arenas, high television ratings, and streaming platform views reflect the rising popularity and appreciation of women’s basketball.
It was fitting that Sunday’s game, on the anniversary of the inaugural WNBA matchup between the Liberty and Sparks, ended in a buzzer-beater in Los Angeles when 35-year-old veteran forward Nneka Ogwumike, a 10-time league All-Star, netted a 3-pointer at the buzzer to give the Sparks a 98-97 victory. The drama seemed scripted. The Liberty led by 17 in the third quarter before the Sparks rallied, led by Ogwumike’s 12 points in the final 3:50.
The Liberty, who won their first league title in 2024 and have been to the finals six times, are a cornerstone franchise of the league that has been critically important to the global advancement of the sport. They are title contenders again this season.
New York was 11-6 and tied for fourth overall in the standings with the Dallas Wings when they faced the Las Vegas Aces, the reigning champions, on Tuesday in the second game of their four-game West Coast road trip. The Liberty will also play the Seattle Storm tonight and the Golden State Valkyries on Sunday.
Their record is largely fueled by an eight-game winning streak that began May 27 and ended last Friday with a tough 2-point home loss to the Washington Mystics. The team’s success has been without significant contributions from four-time WNBA All-Star Sabrina Ionescu, who had only played five of the team’s 17 games this season going into Tuesday’s game.
Furthermore, Ionescu has not played well in those five games, shooting just 31.8% and only averaging 7.4 points and 3.2 assists. Look for the team to improve even more when Ionescu finds her stroke. She scored just 2 points in 22 minutes versus the Sparks.
The Liberty’s biggest off-season acquisition, three-time WNBA All-Star Satou Sabally, who missed five games this season, played a season-high 27 minutes in Sunday’s loss. She has started four of the 12 games she has played this season. Her 6-foot-4 frame, when combined with forwards Breanna Stewart and Leonie Fiebich, both also 6-foot-4, and the 6-foot-6 Jonquel Jones, makes for an imposing starting lineup for the Liberty.
The team also has the WNBA’s tallest player — 6-foot-11-inch Han Xu — coming off the bench. That makes the Liberty the best defensive rebounding team in the league thus far.
“We just thought it was time for Satou,” said Liberty first-year head coach Chris DeMarco after Sunday’s loss, about Sabally into the starting lineup. “It is hard to get her to the minutes we want to coming off the bench, so we just wanted to have size, and we have a ton of confidence in our ability at our size to make threes, to be able to defend, and everything that goes with it.”
With the exception of her 17.6% 3-point shooting, two-time WNBA MVP Breanna Stewart is having a superb season, compensating for Ionescu’s absence by averaging 19.4 points, 8.9 rebounds, and 2.9 assists per game.
On Tuesday, the Liberty will host the Aces at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn for the Commissioner’s Cup.
