The New York Liberty and Los Angeles Sparks played last night from Crypto.com Arena 30 years to the day of the first game in WNBA history between the same 2 teams on June 21, 1997. The Liberty jumped out to a 28-18 lead after the first quarter led by 8 points from Pauline Astier off the bench, 7 points from Marine Johannes off the bench, and 6 points from Satou Sabally. The Sparks got 7 points from Kelsey Plum and 6 points from Dearica Hamby. The Liberty would take a 55-43 lead into halftime with two players scoring in double-figures, Satou Sabally with 11 points on 3 three pointers and Marine Johannes with 10 points. The Liberty shot 54% from the field and 33% from three point range, and outscored the Sparks by 7 points from the free throw line. The Sparks would claw their way back into the game with a strong third quarter outscoring the Liberty 27-21 and cutting the Liberty lead down to six points 76-70 heading into the fourth quarter. The Sparks would outscore the Liberty again in the fourth quarter and the game would come down to the wire. With 9.9 seconds left on the clock the Sparks would lose a challenge and lose their ability to call a timeout but that caught a big break when Breanna Stewart went 1-2 from the free throw line with 8.6 seconds remaining in the game. Erica Wheeler would dribble the ball all the way into the paint and the defense would collapse and that left Nneka Ogwumike wide open from a game winning shot that she swished home at the buzzer winning the game 98-97 and flipping the result from the first WNBA game in history which the Liberty won 67-57 over the Sparks back in 1997. The Sparks had six players in double-figures led by Nneka Ogwumike with 24 points, and 12 points in the fourth quarter, Rae Burrell scored 19 points off the bench, Erica Wheeler put up 15 points and 5 assists, Kelsey Plum with 12 points and 7 assists, Dearica Hamby with 12 pts and 8 rebounds, and Ariel Atkins with 10 points and 4 assists. For the Liberty six players also scored in double-figured led by Breanna Stewart’s 18 points and 10 rebounds, Jonquel Jones 18 points and 8 rebounds, Pauline Astier with 17 points 4 rebounds and 5 assists, Satou Sabally with 14 points, 5 rebounds, and 7 assists, Leonie Fiebich with 13 points and Marine Johannes with 10 points.
Next up:
The Liberty continue their west coast trip and head to Las Vegas to play the Aces tomorrow night at 10 PM broadcast on the USA network.
The Sparks head to Toronto to face the Tempo on Thursday 6/25 broadcast on Prime Video
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