Leonie Fiebich shows why she is invaluable to Liberty even after little prep for season

In the Liberty locker room before Saturday’s win, Jonquel Jones was making light of her recent defensive assignments.She drew the Sun’s Tina Charles in the Liberty’s preseason opener and was tasked with trying to help slow reigning league MVP A’ja Wilson in the team’s season opener.Leonie Fiebich then chimed in from her stall, “Well, Chelsey Gray isn’t any different.”Fiebich was less than a week removed from helping her WNBA offseason team, Valencia, win the Spanish league finals.She arrived in Brooklyn on Thursday and had only one practice under her belt before the season opener.Fiebich was starting to fall victim to her jet lag Saturday.But after receiving her 2024 championship ring and watching the team’s banner rise into the Barclays Center rafters, Fiebich logged nearly 30 minutes of playing time as she reclaimed her spot in the Liberty’s starting lineup.Fiebich didn’t have the most impressive offensive night — two points and one assist.

Her energy and aggressiveness on defense — all while her internal clock was off — was quite impressive.Fiebiech was one of the main players hounding Gray, who had 12 points on 4-of-13 shooting.Fiebich also had three steals and a blocked shot.“I’d hate having someone like Leo guard me, too,” coach Sandy Brondello said Tuesday.

“She’s so smart.She’s KYP [the acronym for Know Your Personnel].

She knows how to help, knows how exactly we want to play.”Fiebich’s familiarity with the Liberty from last season is what made her reintegration with minimal prep mostly seamless this past weekend.“All the things that I’ve seen from Leo last year, it’s kind of like the expectation now,” Jones said.“It is very impressive [what she did Saturday] — I will say that — but I also feel like Leo, we understand what the standard is and we hold her to that standard.

And she delivers every time.”After the Sparks drafted her in the second round in 2020, Fiebich, of Landsberg, Germany, contin...