If there have been any issues in regards to the Liberty’s new superteam after an opening-night clunker at Washington on Friday night time, they had been resulted in a rush Sunday of their residence debut.
Breanna Stewart, the marquee addition within the offseason overhaul, poured in a franchise-record and career-high 45 factors because the Liberty beat the Fever 90-73 earlier than 8,575 at Barclays Middle.
The Liberty’s newly acquired trio of stars obtained the staff off to a sizzling early lead they usually by no means let off the fuel pedal.
Stewart, who additionally had 12 rebounds, opened the scoring by discovering Jonquel Jones for a basket and Stewart adopted with a 3-pointer.
Courtney Vandersloot, the final of the brand new acquisitions, used her velocity to sneak previous her defender for a reverse layup, giving the Liberty a 7-2 lead.
Stewart hit one other 3, and Jones one other basket earlier than Sabrina Ionescu, the holdover star, hit one other 3 to place the Liberty up 15-4 simply over three minutes into the sport.
Stewart completed the primary quarter with 19 factors, capturing 4-for-5 from deep and 6-for-7 total, after having scored solely 12 in Friday’s season opener in opposition to the Mystics.
The Liberty’s season opener was an 80-64 flop, thanks to twenty turnovers and gentle manufacturing from its prime scorers — capturing simply 34 p.c from the sphere.
Nevertheless, head coach Sandy Brondello emphasised it’ll take time for the gamers to jell.
“We stated it’s going to take us time,” she stated earlier than Sunday’s sport. “So, then they should be taught to play with one another as nicely. So a few of it [Friday’s season opener] you noticed a staff that had chemistry and [at other times] a staff that didn’t, so we simply should be sure that we be taught rapidly after which apply it.”
In regard to the turnovers, Betnijah Laney, the fifth starter to go together with the Liberty’s Massive 4, stated, “Sure, we did discuss that.”
They turned it over simply six instances in Sunday’s first half to construct a commanding 62-35 lead at halftime.
Manufacturing solely elevated from the Liberty (1-1) for the rest of the sport, their lead over the Fever (0-2) rising to 32 factors early within the fourth quarter.
Vandersloot opened up the third quarter with back-to-back area objectives, and on the following possession she successfully did a give-and-go with Stewart for a 3-point play, after which chants of “MVP” rang across the area and continued as she approached 50 factors.
Jones additionally went on a run, scoring 14 factors after netting simply 5 on Friday.
Vandersloot completed with 11 factors and eight assists and Ionescu totaled 9 factors, eight assists and eight rebounds.
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