Liberty keep creeping into pretender territory with brutal loss to Valkyries
SAN FRANCISCO — The Liberty were exposed Sunday.Join Post Sports+ for exciting subscriber-only features, including real-time texting with Madeline Kenney about all things Liberty and WNBA.
They got outclassed, outplayed and outcoached by the Valkyries, who won 76-67.The Liberty should’ve known better.Golden State certainly did.Gabby Williams knew that the Liberty were going to try to punch first after what happened in Seattle on Thursday night.
Williams also knew the Valkyries, who just beat the Dream twice at home, had what it took to beat the Liberty, a talented team with some serious flaws emerging.On Sunday, Williams & Co.proved it.The Valkyries closed out the second quarter on an 11-0 run to take a 41-29 lead at halftime.
It was the lowest-scoring half for the Liberty all season.Things didn’t get better in the third.On one possession, the Liberty allowed the Valkyries to grab two offensive rebounds before Kaila Charles got the layup to put the Valkyries up 16 with 5:37 left in the quarter.At the end of the quarter, the Valkyries inbounded the ball and Charles found Janelle Salaun for the buzzer beater that gave Golden State a 64-48 lead heading into the fourth.It was all over from there.The Liberty, supposed to be a championship contender, have dealt with injuries.They haven’t been at full strength in either game against the Valkyries.
They were without Leonie Fiebich (overseas commitments) and Sabrina Ionescu (left foot) for the first meeting.Satou Sabally missed Sunday due to concussion protocol.But general manager Jonathan Kolb built this star-studded roster to withstand the wear and tear of a 44-game season.For most of the past two weeks — outside of Tuesday’s win against the defending champion Aces — they have crept into pretender territory, racking up losses to the Mystics, Fire, Sparks and Storm.The Liberty have a problem with playing down to opponents, but Sunday’s issue was that they failed to meet the moment against a team t...