NEW YORK — Sabrina Ionescu scored 29 points, hitting seven 3-pointers, to help the New York Liberty beat the Washington Mystics 90-75 in Game 1 of their WNBA playoff matchup on Friday night.
Jonquel Jones added 20 points and 12 rebounds to give New York its first home playoff victory since 2015. Game 2 of the best-of-three series is Tuesday night in New York. Given the three-day break, the Mystics are heading home between games.
Ionescu scored eight points in the third quarter, including the final five of the period with a deep 3-pointer and then a floater in the lane just before the buzzer to give New York a 69-57 advantage. It was New York’s biggest lead of the game to that point.
The Liberty extended their lead to 14 before Washington scored the next eight points to get within 71-65 on Brittney Sykes’ three-point play with 8:02 to play. That was as close as the Mystics got. Ionescu hit back-to-back 3s over the next 80 seconds to restore the double-digit lead and whip the crowd that included Billie Jean King and Sue Bird into a frenzy.
Washington never threatened the rest of the way thanks in large part to the play of Ionescu, Jones and Betnijah Laney, who finished with 19 points.
Myisha Hines-Allen scored 21 points and Sykes had 16 for the Mystics.
Breanna Stewart, the Associated Press Player of the Year, had a rough shooting night for New York. She missed her first five shots and didn’t score her first points until hitting two free throws with 7:25 left in the second quarter. Stewart finished with 10 points on 3-of-16 shooting. She averaged a career-best 23 points this season.
Stewart had a tip to Laney before the halftime buzzer to give New York a 46-42 lead - its biggest advantage in the first 20 minutes.
The Mystics had only nine healthy players. Shakira Austin was out with a hip injury and will also miss Tuesday’s game. Kristi Toliver was lost for the season when she tore an ACL earlier this month.
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