Courtney Vandersloot’s Chicago homecoming gave us a first look at the Liberty playing in crunch time.
Sandy Brondello’s club pulled out a 77-76 win against the Sky on Friday night, getting a clutch go-ahead bucket from Breanna Stewart with 7.6 seconds remaining. The victory was secured after Marine Johannes forced Courtney Williams to miss a shot right before time expired.
The game was almost overshadowed by an offensive clinic in the first half from Chicago’s Kahleah Copper, who contributed 18 points on 7-of-11 shooting from the field during the first two quarters.
Copper’s fingerprints were all over the game until the two-time All-Star suffered an ankle injury with a minute left in the second quarter. Betnijah Laney, who was defending Copper, inadvertently stepped on the ex-Rutgers guard’s foot on a layup attempt.
She appeared to be in tons of pain but returned to start the second half.
Some of Copper’s points were created as a result of the nine first-half turnovers committed by the Liberty. The Liberty scored just 16 first-quarter points, which is the second-lowest first-quarter total of the season. The Liberty were down eight at the half.
Chicago’s defense forced Sabrina Ionescu to go scoreless until the final seconds of the third quarter and held Vandersloot to 1-of-5 shooting to start the game. Vandersloot went on to score eight points on 4-of-11 shooting.
Johannes, who came up big at the end, showcased how she’ll impact the Liberty offense moving forward.
She got her first action of the season after checking in with three minutes left in the first quarter, with Ionescu checking out due to early foul trouble.
It didn’t take long for Johannes to showcase her playmaking and fancy passes, as she assisted Kayla Thornton in the first quarter with a behind-the-back pass on a fast break opportunity. She also whipped a cross-court assist in the second quarter to give Nyara Sabally her first WNBA trey.
“To be Marine, that’s it,” Brondello said pregame when asked what she wants to see from the guard. “Marine’s not in the box, she’s got the green light. She adds another dynamic to how we want to play, and we want her to… come in and be aggressive for us.”
Johannes finished with three points and two assists in 21 minutes off the bench.
Laney scored 17 points on 8-of-14 shooting from the field. Laney, who could be a No.1 scoring option on other teams, carried the scoring load with her teammates having inefficient performances.
The Liberty won the third quarter after hitting some timely shots and took the lead to start the fourth after an Ionescu trey, her first made field goal of the game. Chicago’s Alanna Smith’s bucket took the lead back midway through the fourth quarter. She was key for the Sky, as she scored 18 points on 7-of-7 shooting while defending Stewart.
Copper finished with 20 points and guard Mabrey added 15 points and seven rebounds.
Stewart finished with a game-high 19 points and 11 rebounds. Jonquel Jones added in 10 points on seven shot attempts.