With their star point guard out, the Liberty gutted out their first win in three weeks Sunday. Betnijah Laney had a team-high 23 points, Rebecca Allen stole the ball on the game’s final play, and the Liberty (6-4) beat the Mercury 85-83 in Phoenix.
It was a badly needed win over the 5-6 Mercury. After a hot 5-1 start, the Libs had lost three straight. An eight-day layoff after that meant that they hadn’t won since May 24.
Jaz Jones had 14 of the Liberty’s 18 points in the fourth quarter, an eruption she called an “out of body experience.”
But Sabrina Ionescu’s troubles with her left ankle are not behind her.
The Liberty revealed on Sunday their point guard would not play against the Mercury as a result of left ankle tendinitis. It’s the same ankle Ionescu sustained a Grade 3 sprain in last year, which forced her to miss all but two-plus games her rookie year. Head coach Walt Hopkins said for now, she would be day-to-day with her new injury, which he said was the result of overuse.
“I think putting a ton of load on that leg/foot/ankle/shin after, you know, a long recovery process, I think it just was a lot for body to handle,” Hopkins said before Sunday’s game in Phoenix. “We just need to get her a little rest and hopefully she’ll be back real soon.”
“I was ready, we kinda knew what was going on coming into this week,” Laney said after the win. “It meant I had to step up a little more.”
Hopkins and Ionescu reiterated in training camp that even though her injury last year was severe, she was structurally fully healed from it. Hopkins, however, had held her back in camp to ensure her return in the 2021 season wouldn’t start with another injury.
On Sunday, he said Ionescu getting the ankle tendinitis was “kind of unavoidable.”
“I think, you know, we could have done more of a minutes restriction, but really it’s she needs to practice, she needs the reps,” Hopkins said. “And so it’s this mixed bag of she needs the rest and she also needs the reps. And so I think it’s just going to be kind of a back and forth, you know for parts of the season.”
The second-year coach did not eliminate the possibility of Ionescu returning in time to play against the Aces in Las Vegas on Tuesday or Thursday, but reiterated their approach being “day by day.”
