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The Liberty scored 79 points Sunday afternoon, an offensive uptick after several inefficient games, but Joe Tsai’s team lost to the Connecticut Sun, the WNBA’s hottest team, 94-79. It was the Sun’s seventh straight win.
While the Liberty was able to score, it continued to give up points off turnovers at an alarming rate.
New York had 17 turnovers that led to 37 points for Connecticut Sunday. It was the second straight game that the Liberty have struggled taking care of the basketball.
’’We can’t give up 37 points off turnovers,’’ Liberty coach Katie Smith said. ‘’That’s 67 points in two games.’’
Smith theorized that the Liberty are the worst in the league at points-off-turnovers and indeed they are.
Via @nyliberty PR, @katiesmith30 made this assertion. Swanny's stats shows she is correct. #WNBA https://t.co/NZD3jbALWD pic.twitter.com/iZ4nK7yJRf
— Howard Megdal (@howardmegdal) August 5, 2019
Connecticut led 29-16 after the first quarter. It was the most points the Sun had scored in the opening quarter this season. New York cut it to 39-32 on Tina Charles’ jumper with 4:30 left in the half. The Sun outscored the Liberty 14-6 the rest of the period to take a 15-point lead at the half. Charles had 20 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Liberty, who have lost five of their past six games and are currently 8-13.
Williams was 12 for 18 from the field and had 17 of her points by the half, helping Connecticut improve to 12-0 when leading at the break this season. New York couldn’t get within single digits in the second half.
In addition to Charles, the Liberty had two other players in double figures: Amanda Zuhai B had 16 points and five rebounds manning the post and shooting guard Kia Nurse had 11 but hit only 1-of-6 from three point range. Overall, the Liberty shot 18 percent from deep, a continuing problem.
Point guard Courtney Williams scored a season-high 28 points for Connecticut.
‘’I took momentum from last game and it rolled over to this game,’’ Williams said. ‘’Knocked down shots and my teammates gave me the ball. I’ve been making shots. I was still taking the same shots doing the same thing, but the balls going through the basket.’’
The game attracted only 1,957 fans to White Plains.