On to the next one.
The Liberty survived a wild Game 2 to secure a first-round series sweep and advance into the second round of the WNBA playoffs.
It took an overtime period for Sandy Brondello’s team to edge the Mystics, 90-85, at Barclays Center on Tuesday night.
Breanna Stewart, who finished with 27 points and nine rebounds, was the hero in OT. She drained the last four free throws in the final moments of the game, which put her team up five with four seconds remaining in OT.
The Mystics had no timeouts to advance the ball and star Elena Delle Donne dribbled up the court while the Barclays Center crowd erupted in support of the home team as time expired.
“It means a lot,” Stewart said about the series-clinching win. The star added that the team knew they were in for an “emotional” rollercoaster and that the Liberty “stayed the course.”
“No matter what, we didn’t stop playing until the final buzzer. And we came away with the win.”
It’s the first time the Liberty advanced to the second round since 2015. Brondello said pregame she wasn’t aware of the drought, but it came to an end after a tough battle against the seventh-seeded Mystics.
Washington’s season comes to an end after a hard-fought year filled with DNPs from key players. The team was without center Shakira Austin for the postseason and some parts of the regular season due to a hip injury. Three-time All-Star Kristi Toliver also didn’t appear in the postseason and played in just 11 games after missing time due to plantar fasciitis and a knee injury. Guard Ariel Atkins missed 13 games dealing with an ankle injury. Two-time MVP missed games in various parts of the regular season with ankle and hip ailments.
Through all that, Eric Thibault’s team managed to finish with the seventh overall seed and was within minutes of forcing a decisive Game 3. The effort led Brondello to show her respect for Thibault’s squad postgame.
“Hats off to Washington. They’ve had a tough year with all their injuries,” Brondello said. “This is a three seed in my opinion, three [or] four seed. The way that they competed tonight, when was the last time you seen someone play that hard?”
As expected, the Mystics fought to the end with their playoff lives on the line. The same aggression the Mystics started Game 1 with returned after halftime Tuesday as they trailed by 11. The aggression afforded them a four-point lead with 2:40 remaining in the game.
Then chaos ensued.
Betnijah Laney hit a clutch corner three-pointer with 2:18 left on the clock. Natasha Cloud, who finished with a game-high 33 points, missed a wide open trey, cuing Courtney Vandersloot to run offense on the other end. She used a flurry of screens, which eventually got Jonquel Jones open for an easy layup attempt with 1:38 remaining. It put the Libs up one and got the home crowd to erupt while envisioning a second-round matchup. What they didn’t know was what was about to happen next.
Stewart’s turnaround jumper, following a turnover by Atkins, got her team up three. But Brittney Sykes’ trey with 34 seconds remaining tied the game at 74. On the next possession, Jones’ errant pass led to a turnover and recovery by Cloud. Cloud was then fouled and she sank two free throws to put Washington up two with 27 seconds remaining.
Following a Stewart finger roll that touched every part of the rim but not the net, Sabrina Ionescu ended up on the line with an opportunity to tie. She missed the first, then intentionally missed the second to give her team a shot at another tie. Jones came down with the rebound and eventually tied the game at the free throw line. She had made up for her prior mistake that almost cost the team.
“We knew we had to miss,” Brondello said postgame about Ionescu’s second free throw with 12 seconds remaining. “And for [Jonquel] to knock down two big shots — that was big for us.”
With the game tied at 76, the Mystics had an opportunity to end the game at regulation. The opportunity was identical to their regular-season finale win that saw Sykes convert a game-winner to end the Liberty’s eight-game win streak.
But Cloud threw the inbounds pass away and her team didn’t get a shot to force Game 3 at the end of regulation. It was a moment she reflected on postgame in front of reporters.
“Personally for me, my stupid ass turnover with [11] seconds,” Cloud said when asked about a moment that stuck out in the loss.
The Liberty went on to win the OT period, 14-9. They avoided a disastrous situation in attempting to get a series-clinching win on the road. Brondello and her team will now have four days off before being tasked again with defending homecourt in Game 1 of the second round.
“Washington was a really hard matchup,” Brondello said. “But it was gonna prepare us as we progress through the playoffs because it’s a really good team and they really tested us tonight.
“I think that will give us good preparation. We faced everything now. What more can we face,” Brondello asked rhetorically.
The Libs now wait to see who will win a decisive Game 3 between the Connecticut Sun and Minnesota Lynx. The two teams will tip-off at 8 p.m. on Thursday night at Target Center.
