The New York Liberty lost momentum on their 2 game winning streak after falling short to the Minnesota Lynx 77-84 Sunday afternoon. Despite the lost the Liberty is hopeful of turing it around to close out their double header against the Lynx Tuesday evening. With a 3-8 record the Liberty is reflecting on this loss to address the pitfalls they encountered on Sunday’s game.
Liberty Forward Natasha Howard addressed what the team needs to change in preparation for Tuesday’s game.
“Our shots weren’t falling just like the way Minnesota’s shots were falling,” Howard Said. “We see Minnesota on Tuesday and we’re going to go back and watch film and see what we can do different.”
One noticeable pitfall is that Howard and Sabrina Ionescu scored double digits in comparison to last weeks game against the fever where four players scored double digits. That absence in scoring from Rebbca Allen and Stefanie Dolson could be one of the reasons The Liberty fell short Sunday afternoon.
Another pitfall that The Liberty faced was the loss of stamina towards the end of the game. In the third quarter The Lynx dominated in defense and scoring, with Aerial Powers playing a key role in furthering The Lynx’s lead going into the fourth. The Liberty however did show a instance of a comeback closing closing their 16 pt deficit during the fourth quarter.
Unfortunately The Lynx managed to hold off The Liberty from advancing their lead and gave them their eighth loss of the season.
Ionescu spoke on what the team needed to do in order to put a stop to The Lynx winning Tuesday’s game.
For more New York Liberty coverage, visit amNY.com
“We just have to come together as team and rely on team defense a little bit more to stop the hot hand,” Ionescu said. “We’re going to have to come back and make those adjustments as a team.”
As The Liberty goes into the second game against the Lynx, they’re still trying to manage a team with key players being out with injuries. However, if they can address the challenges (watching Lynx defense, hot hand, shooting) that they’ve faced Sunday The Liberty may be able to pull off a win at home Tuesday night.
