WASHINGTON— A new season can come with its initial bumps, and the Liberty looked vulnerable as they opened their second season as a superteam on Tuesday night against the Mystics.
Nothing about their 85-80 win screamed super.
Well, maybe a Jonquel Jones was super.
Jones, who was hurt to start last season and scored just five points in the 2023 opener, led the Liberty with a game-high 25 points.
“You take advantage of the opportunities that you have. You go overseas, you work on your game and you do things that you know that you can do on the court,” Jones said. “You kind of use that time to really work and so to come back and see everything kind of come to fruition, it does feel good.
“I know I’ve said this during preseason and training camp, but like where I was last year versus where I am this year, like I don’t take it for granted. And I appreciate these moments and I love going out there and playing hard.”
Jones, the only Liberty starter to complete a full season overseas in the WNBA offseason, turned a new page to start 2024.
And the Liberty needed it on a night that saw Sabrina Ionescu struggle from the perimeter, shooting 1-for-7.
She still put together 15 points while Breanna Stewart had trouble against Shakira Austin, finishing with just eight points on 3-for-9 shooting.
Down three at the half and eight points after three quarters, the Liberty opened the fourth quarter on a 16-4 run to take a 75-71 lead.
Off of three big layups from Betnijah Laney-Hamilton — who finished with 20 points — the Liberty eventually pushed it to an 81-74 edge with 2:54 remaining.
But the Mystics made a final charge, thanks in part to charging fouls on Jones and Stewart.
Brittany Sykes took advantage, making three straight baskets to get Washington within 81-80.
Ionescu extended the lead to 83-80 with two free throws with 15.8 seconds left, but the Liberty forced Karlie Samuelson into a long 3-point attempt that was off the mark with 2.1 seconds left.
Ionescu made two more free throws with 0.2 seconds left.
“It’s a game of runs, they’re a good team.” Laney-Hamilton said. “This is the WNBA so teams are going to do that. But, I think we stuck with it. We never hung our heads through the process and we just continued to make winning plays and that kind of put us back into the game.”
The Liberty turned it over 20 times, leading to 19 points for the Mystics, who tested the visitors with big blocks and buzzer-beating shots.
“We mixed up defense in the fourth quarter, which kind of helped us get the victory today and I think that’s the versatility of this team,” Liberty coach Sandy Bordello said. “But yeah, turnovers, that’s way too many and gave them too many offensive rebounds.”
