Jul 6, 2025; Brooklyn, New York, USA; Seattle Storm guard Skylar Diggins (4) shoots the ball defended by New York Liberty forward Breanna Stewart (30) during the first half at Barclays Center. Mandatory Credit: John Jones-Imagn Images
The New York Liberty has been at a disadvantage recently by starting games slowly and having to crawl back from a deficit. However, on Sunday against the Seattle Storm, the first half wasn’t the problem.
The Liberty had a strong first 20 minutes, led by Sabrina Ionescu, who put up 20 points in that time. They held a lead at halftime, thanks to a four-point play from the star guard with 13 seconds left, but the Storm came out of the locker room in the second half on fire and destroyed all the momentum the Liberty had. New York couldn’t find another spark the rest of the way and dropped the game 79-70.
“They were switching a lot and that made us a little bit stagnant,” said Liberty guard Rebekah Gardner. “But we just got to get back to what we’re good at, which is, moving the ball, passing to each other, assisting, and once we can get back in that rhythm, we’ll be good.”
New York was effectively moving the ball around and finding wide-open cutters to start the game, seemingly getting past a Storm defense that switches or traps screens. All five Liberty starters recorded at least one point and assist in the first quarter.
Seattle went into the second quarter with a 22-18 advantage, but Gardner leveled the score with two steals and back-to-back buckets just 78 seconds in. It was a back-and-forth battle, but the Liberty led 44-41 at halftime.
Part of New York’s success came from its pace. It had seven fast break points in the first half compared to Seattle’s two. It also won the second-chance battle, scoring nine points to the Storm’s one.
However, the struggles came in the paint. The Liberty managed to keep up in the first half, only scoring four fewer points in the key, but the Storm left them in the dust in the second half.
“They came out executed, and we didn’t and we didn’t have enough fight there,” said head coach Sandy Brondello. “I mean, to score six points, it’s not what we’re about. We struggled to score all in that second half. Their switching bothered us, and I think we went away from probably what worked in the first half.”
New York fell apart on both ends of the floor to start the third quarter and never recovered. Natasha Cloud scored six points in the frame, in attempts to find a groove, but those were the only points added in the quarter as they trailed 63-50 going into the final 10 minutes.
Dominique Malonga was guarded by Stewart but wasn’t frightened and scored six consecutive points on the two-time MVP in the fourth quarter. Malonga played just under 10 minutes but tallied 11 points and led her squad with eight rebounds.
The rookie’s run gave Seattle its largest lead at 71-52 with 8:06 left in the game. The Liberty were desperately searching for anything on offense but couldn’t get past the Storm.
Cloud didn’t play in the quarter and Ionescu only added two points in the second half. Without the backcourt duo, they couldn’t put together any runs. New York brought the score within nine, sparking momentary hope, but the reserves were already checked in and there was less than a minute on the clock.
Seattle scored 24 of its 38 second-half points in the paint and was led by its bigs in Gabby Williams (16 points), Nneka Ogwumike (15), and Ezi Magbegor (14). New York couldn’t find an answer with Stewart, who scored just eight points, Leonie Fiebich, who led the team with five turnovers, and Jonquel Jones, who is still out with an ankle injury.
“You can say that it doesn’t affect the team, or the next man up, but at the end of the day, we’re missing our Finals MVP, we’re missing Leo for all these games,” Ionescu said. “It’s hard, people have to step up in positions and play, and there’s great teams in this league. It’s not just going to be easy.”
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