The Liberty needed a late push to beat the Storm on Tuesday night, with Breanna Stewart and Sabrina Ionescu leading the way to an 86-82 win at Barclays Center against a Seattle team that lost its 10th consecutive game.
Stewart had a 22-point night for the Liberty, but the game was highlighted by Ionescu’s triple-double of 12 points, 12 rebounds, and 12 assists.
Forwards Betnijah Laney and Jonquel Jones also came through with 19 and 13 points, respectively.
Jones — the Eastern Conference Player of the Week — also grabbed 17 rebounds.
The Liberty came out pressing after allowing the Storm to take an early 8-0 lead, which was a 26-21 edge after the first quarter.
Jewell Loyd had 15 points for the Storm in the first quarter, and finished with a game-high 32 points.
Things didn’t improve in the second quarter for the Liberty, with 10 turnovers and a 31.8 shooting percentage leading to a bleak-looking 45-35 halftime deficit.
“I told them it’s a long game,” Liberty head coach Sandy Brondello said about what she told the team during a timeout in the third quarter. “We just got to keep competing. We got to keep executing.”
But the momentum soon shifted.
With under two minutes to go in third, Courtney Vandersloot and Laney hit back-to-back 3-pointers and Stewart led off the fourth quarter with another shot from deep, giving the Liberty and Barclays Center new life.
On another critical offensive possession while down by five, Ionescu chased down two rebounds, including one of her own, to then find Stewart for a midrange jumper.
Ionescu struggled all night to find the range, going 2-for-14 from the field and 2-for-9 beyond the arc, but continued being the facilitator she is known as.
“It shows tenacity. It shows maturity and growth,” Stewart said of the play after the game. “When we have Sab just nonstop working to get the ball, to find somebody, to get open, to rebound, it’s huge for us and it’s a momentum shifter to see someone doing that.”
“Even though her shot wasn’t falling, she was doing any and everything else that she could to make an impact,” Laney added.
The Liberty had a 3-0 record against Seattle this season, entering play Tuesday.
Brondello knew that the sweep wouldn’t come easily, as the third game between the two was also a tight contest the Liberty won by four points.
“Yeah, I remember that. We nearly lost, didn’t we? [Seattle’s] Sami [Whitcomb] went on fire and just kind of taken off …” Brondello said before Tuesday night’s game, the third time the teams had met this month.
“This was a big win for us. We dug ourselves a really big hole,” Brondello added after the game. “But they found a way and they found a way together. And that’s what made me really proud.”
The Liberty pulled it off as part of a busy four-game week.
They face the Atlanta Dream Thursday at 7 p.m. in Brooklyn.