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After winning four straight, three of them in the last minutes, the Liberty seemed to run out of gas Sunday at the Westchester County Center, getting bombed, 90-58, by the Las Vegas Aces.
The game was the Liberty’s third in the last five days, which included stops in Seattle and Phoenix. Maybe it was the grueling schedule, but whatever it was UGLY.
The Aces jumped out to a 12-2 lead and were up 12 at the half as Liz Cambage was a force. She finished the first half with 13 points, eight rebounds, two blocks and two steals.
Las Vegas extended the advantage to 64-45 after three quarters and New York (7-8) could get no closer the rest of the way. In fact, the Aces limited the Liberty to 13 points in the fourth quarter, outscoring them by 10. Joe Tsai’s team is now 7-8. One more win and they’ll surpass last season’s total.
Tina Charles scored 13 points to lead New York while second-leading scorer Kia Nurse had a rough game going 1-of-13 from the field. She missed her first 11 shots before hitting a layup early in the fourth quarter. Han Xu, the Liberty’s 6’9” center, played 13 minutes and scored seven points while grabbing three boards. She finished 3-of-6 overall, including 1-of-3 from deep.
For the Aces, Kayla McBride scored 24 points and Liz Cambage added 21
Las Vegas (9-5) was playing two days after it’s game against Washington was suspended at the half after an earthquake in California stopped the game. The Aces’ court was playable, but the decision was made out of an abundance of caution to suspend it. The WNBA will decide when the game will be made up.
A crowd of 1,971 was on hand Sunday. New York plays again Friday vs. the Sky in Chicago.