The Liberty are where they expect to be.
Where they demand to end up. Where they have thus far deserved to claim.
On top.
The Liberty cruised past the lowly Dream, 96-75, on Sunday afternoon at the Gateway Center in College Park, Ga. Coupled with the Sun’s 72-61 loss to the Storm, the Liberty (15-3) now possess the best record in the WNBA.
It also marks the Liberty’s best 18-game start to a season in franchise history.
The Liberty played without starters Courtney Vandersloot (return to playing condition) and Betnijah Laney-Hamilton (knee) again, but they’ve hardly missed a step.
Their Big 3 of Sabrina Ionescu, Breanna Stewart and Jonquel Jones have carried them with the two absences, and all three dominated on Sunday. Ionescu erupted for 26 points and 11 assists on 9-for-18 shooting from the field and 4 of 9 from 3-point range.
“It’s just continuing to play my game, understanding the threat I am as a scorer with all three levels,” Ionescu told reporters after the game. “But also [my] passing — [we’re] unguardable when we get everyone involved.”
Stewart added 17 points, eight rebounds, six assists, three steals and two blocks while Jones chipped in 15 points and 11 rebounds.
One day after the best 3-point shooting performance in her career, Kayla Thornton — who has filled in for Laney-Hamilton — recorded eight points and six rebounds.
And after getting no points from their bench during Saturday’s win over the Sparks, the Liberty got 21 points off the bench from Kennedy Burke, Marquesha Davis and Ivana Dojkic on Sunday.
Thornton along with Leonie Fiebich, who has filled in for Vandersloot, normally are head coach Sandy Brondello’s first two options off the bench, but their additions to the starting lineup have left the Liberty’s bench thin in recent games.
“Sometimes that’s gonna happen,” Brondello said about the dramatic improvement. “We’ve got some role players in the starting five. … It was great for us to step up, so we didn’t have to play the heavy minutes like we had to the other night.”
The Liberty have now won 11 of their past 12 games and three in a row, much without two starters.
The WNBA’s top team seems to only keep getting stronger.