Storm Battles Liberty: Analysis of a Close WNBA Match

Despite the fact that they out shot New York (19-13) from beyond the arc, the Storm (6-27) were forced to foul one of the league’s best free throw shooting team in the final minute. The Liberty would hit all four of their shots from the charity stripe in the last minute to lock up a 92-86 home victory on Wednesday night.

With 1:47 left in the game, Marine Fauthoux sunk a 23-foot three to give the Liberty an 88-77 lead. While Flau’jae Johnson’s 25-foot three and a four-foot jump shot from Dominique Malonga would cut the home team’s lead to six with 50.4 left, there just wasn’t enough time on the clock for Seattle to get enough stops and buckets for the comeback, especially after Johnson fouled Sabrina Ionescu; whom sunk both free throws. Awa Fam than fouled Pauline Astier, and she hit both shots to give New York its final points of the game.

Johnson would drive the lane with 13.7 left for the final bucket of the game and get us to the final score. The 22 year old guard finished the game with 11 points, four rebounds, and three assist.

Seattle’s leading scorer was Malonga, with 31 points. Outside of Johnson and Malonga, Jade Melbourne (13) and Awa Fam (13) also finished with double digit points. New York had five scorers in double digits, Breanna Stewart’s 28 points lead the home team.

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The game was ultimately decided when the Liberty went on a 10-2 run at the start of the final quarter to make their lead 79-67. Jonquel Jones scored the first six points of the fourth quarter to help her squad open up the lead to what turned out to be an insurmountable deficit. While Seattle was able to go on an 8-2 run to cut New York’s lead to six, the Storm were never able to shave it by more because the home would outscore them 7-2 over the next four minutes to push its lead up to 11 before the final minute.

New York utilized a 12-2 run early in the third to break a 50-50 tie and take a 62-52 lead with 4:34 left in the third quarter. Fam drilled a 24-foot three ball from near the corner of the three point arc to put an end to the Liberty’s run. Another three from Fam helped keep pace with the Liberty as Seattle’s defense was unable to contain Ionescu in later part of the third frame.

Over the final two minutes, Seattle would go on a mini 5-0 run to cut the home team’s lead to four – at 65-69 – headed into the final quarter.

A 10-3 run in the final three minutes of the first half cut the Liberty’s lead to four at the intermission. The final five points of the half were scored by Malonga – a 25-foot three and a running layup – that got Seattle back into the game; the 20 year old became the youngest player in WNBA history to make 300 career field goals in the second quarter. In fact, the center actually scored eight of those 10 points that cut into New York’s lead. Fam was the only other Storm to make a bucket during that run.

Malonga scored 15 of Seattle’s 27 second quarter points and was the main reason that they were able to get back into the game.

While the center was a major scoring threat for the Storm, it was Ezi Magbegor that got the come back effort started with a three-foot jumper which was quickly followed up by 25-footer from the top of the arc. While Stewart scored six points in the second, Seattle was able to limit Ionescu to only two points throughout the second quarter which forced Xu to step up in the final three minutes. And she did, Xu drilled a 25-footer for the Liberty’s last bucket of the first half as the home team took a 47-43 lead into the locker room.

The Storm’s theme of late starts continued in this one as New York took control early with a 17-4 run over the first five minutes of the game. Allen was an early machine as she scored ten of the Liberty’s first 17 points. Astier was the other star for New York over the first part of the game as she scored five points, Jones scored the other two.

It was a Lou Samuelson layup (with 4:59 left in the first quarter) that finally shook Seattle’s offense awake. Seattle would out score the Liberty 12-10 headed into the first break, as New York held a 27-16 lead when at the first buzzer.

Spokane fires

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