NEW YORK (AP) — Marine Johannes scored 21 points, Jonquel Jones added 17 points and keyed a huge run to close the third quarter as the New York Liberty beat the Phoenix Mercury 84-74 on Wednesday night.
The game was a rematch of last season’s first-round playoff series that the Mercury won en route to reaching the WNBA Finals. Both teams are different this season as Satou Sabally came to New York from Phoenix. Coming into the game she was questionable to play because of an illness that forced her out of Monday’s game. She warmed up but was scratched an hour before tipoff.
While Sabally was out, along with Sabrina Ionescu (back), the Liberty did welcome back Betnijah Laney-Hamilton and Leonie Fiebich. Laney-Hamilton had missed a few games for personal reasons. Fiebich was recovering from winning a Spanish league title.
The Liberty (4-4) trailed 55-49 with 6:09 left in the third quarter when coach Chris DeMarco put Laney-Hamilton into the game. New York responded with a 23-0 run to close the quarter that included 10 points from Jones. The Mercury (2-6) had eight turnovers, including three on offensive fouls during the drought.
New York led 72-55 heading into the final quarter and Phoenix finally ended its nearly seven-minute scoring drought with a 3-pointer in the corner from Monique Akoa Makani. The Mercury could only get within 10 in the fourth as they dropped their fourth consecutive game. It was Akoa Makani’s first game of the season as she was finishing her overseas commitments.
Kahleah Copper scored 19 to lead Phoenix.
The Liberty ended their three-game losing streak, which was the team’s longest since 2022.
Johannes kept the Liberty in the game in the first half with her hot shooting. She had 15 points at the break, hitting five 3-pointers, including four in the first quarter. She finished with seven 3s.
The Liberty led 24-22 after 10 minutes. Led by Copper, Phoenix was up 43-42 at the half.
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The teams will play each other again on Friday night.
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