Brondello Team Loses First Game Of The Year

Photo: Special to the NY Beacon

By Shara Talia Taylor

The New York Liberty(4-1) lost their first game of the 2024 regular season to the Chicago Sky (2-1), 90-81 at Barclays Center last Thursday night.

New York came from behind after halftime to tie the score, but never took the lead in the third quarter. The Liberty fell off in 3-pointers and trailed by as much as 14 points in the fourth quarter.

“Rebound,” was what Nyara Sabally said Coach Sandy Brondello emphasized in the last timeout of the game. “Get in there and rebound. I feel like that’s also why I got sent in, because they wanted me to rebound.”

Sabally had six total rebounds. She added eight points, a block, a steal and two assists. Breanna Stewart led with 10 total rebounds and had 18 points, five assists, four steals and a block. Sabrina Ionescu led New York with 19 points and 3 assists.

Only a few weeks ago New York faced Chicago in preseason when Sky won 101-53 with rookie Angel Reese. New rookie Kamilla Cardoso did not play then nor on Thursday. Reese had 13 points and led the Sky with nine rebounds.

“What’s translating the best is her effort and her energy, rebounds, doing little things to turn into big things,” Breanna Stewart said about covering Angel Reese since preseason.  “Especially as her rookie year goes, I’m sure that she’s going to just become more confident in what she does.”

Marina Mabrey led the Sky with 21 points, and seven assists. She had six rebounds.

“They play well together,” said Coach Sandy Brondello about playing the Sky and that has not changed since their preseason meeting. “They’ve got an exceptional shooter in Mabrey. It was just a tough matchup for us all night long.”

It was a competitive match. The Liberty were tied at the end of the first quarter, but were behind at the end of each quarter after.

They made only 20 percent of their 3-pointers in the fourth quarter alone.

“We have to box out the 2 post players and  we just have to get stops,” said Kayla Thornton about what she wants to do differently the next game against the Sky. “Whatever we have on our defensive plan we got to execute to a tee so then we know what we have to work on.I think we weren’t as aggressive.”

The Liberty traveled to Minnesota to take on the Lynx Saturday afternoon.