Ionescu leads late charge as Liberty take tight season-opening victory over Sun
Rhyne Howard scores 16 in WNBA debut as Dream best Wings
Sabrina Ionescu had 25 points and six assists and sparked a late run to help the New York Liberty beat the Connecticut Sun 81-79 on Saturday night in the season opener for both teams.
Natasha Howard scored 16 points, Sami Whitcomb had 15 points and five assists and Jocelyn Willoughby added 13 points for New York. Willoughby — the No. 10 overall selection in the 2020 WNBA draft — did not play last season after suffering a torn left Achilles tendon in a preseason scrimmage.
Ionescu was fouled as she hit a 12-foot jumper and hit the free throw to give the Liberty a 71-70 lead with 3:51 to play. Jasmine Thomas answered with a three-point play to put Connecticut back in front 10 seconds later, but Ionescu followed with a three-pointer and a driving layup to make it 76-73 with 2:31 remaining and the Sun trailed the rest of the way.
Alyssa Thomas led Connecticut with 25 points, seven rebounds and four steals. Reigning WNBA MVP Jonquel Jones had 15 points, Jasmine Thomas scored 13, Brionna Jones added 11 points and DiJonai Carrington had 10.
AND ☝️ <a href="https://twitter.com/sabrina_i20?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@sabrina_i20</a> <a href="https://t.co/pbNKePM1uB">pic.twitter.com/pbNKePM1uB</a>
—@WNBADream best Wings to claim opener
Rhyne Howard scored 16 points in her debut for Atlanta, Cheyenne Parker had 10 points, 10 rebounds and three blocks and the Dream beat the Dallas Wings 66-59 on Saturday night in the season opener for both teams.
Nia Coffey added 11 points and nine rebounds for Atlanta, Erika Wheeler also scored 11 points and Monique Billings had six points and 14 rebounds.
ICYMI: rookie <a href="https://twitter.com/howard_rhyne?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@howard_rhyne</a>’s first bucket of her WNBA career 🤝 <a href="https://t.co/MqhWUrwAAY">pic.twitter.com/MqhWUrwAAY</a>
—@WNBADallas shot just 24.3 per cent (17-of-70) from the field. It marked the first time the Dream have held their opponents below 25 per cent shooting and just the 26th time in WNBA history.
The Dream stretched their lead back to 15 points on a layup by Billings with about eight minutes to play but didn't make another field goal for more than six minutes as Dallas trimmed its deficit to 63-59 when Marina Mabrey made a layup with 2:32 remaining. Wheeler hit a three-pointer 45 seconds later to cap the scoring.
Mabrey led the Wings with 20 points and Gray added 12 points, nine rebounds and three blocks. Arike Ogunbowale scored seven points on 3-of-14 shooting. It was the 2020 WNBA scoring champion's seventh career game in which she failed to score in double figures and just the second since her rookie campaign in 2019.
