The No. 2 seed New York Liberty (28-7) took care of business on Monday night, beating the No. 1 seed Las Vegas Aces (30-6) 94-85, evening the regular-season series at 2-2 and closing the gap in the standings between the two teams to just a game and a half.
The Liberty had multiple players dominate. Sabrina Ionescu led the way with 25 points as she shot 5-for-10 from the 3-point line. Breanna Stewart started slowly but ended the night with 20 points and 12 rebounds, while Courtney Vandersloot also had a double-double with 17 points and 10 assists.
For the first time this season, Las Vegas has lost back-to-back games. On Thursday, they will aim to stop their two-game slide when they play the Washington Mystics, who defeated them on Saturday. New York will look to make it five wins in a row when they host Connecticut on Friday.
Key observations
Although New York was in control most of the game, Las Vegas came out to a roaring start. Jackie Young hit back-to-back field goals and the Aces jumped out to a 10-4 lead. Ionescu then responded by scoring 10 of her team’s next 14 points, allowing New York to take a three-point lead into the second quarter.
It was a back-and-forth affair to start the second, but, midway through the quarter, New York began pulling away. Courtney…
