Liberty rallies for comeback victory against Atlanta

Liberty’s all-time leading scorer and rebounder was back in her hometown Sunday with her Atlanta Dream team at Barclays Center. Tina Charles seemed excited about what had become of her former team.

“I think every league is always great when New York teams are doing well,” Charles said before the game. “It’s always a lot more exciting. For the Liberty, with Jonquel Jones and Sabrina (Ionescu) thriving, you add a vet like (Courtney Vandersloot), I’m really excited for them and what they’re going to do this season. I’m always a fan from afar.”

The 35-year-old Queens native, who is in her first season with her fourth team since the Liberty traded her in April 2020 after a six-season run, certainly didn’t see the Liberty at its best up close for much of the first half.

They were 16 points apart at the start of the second quarter and still trailed by 14 points at the end of the period. But the Liberty cut their problem to five by halftime, outscored Atlanta in the third quarter and cruised to an 81-75 victory.

So they were able to bounce back from Tuesday night’s loss to Minnesota in the Commissioner’s Cup championship game. It was their third win in three games against Atlanta and made them 16-3.

Breanna Stewart (22 points, 12 rebounds) and Betnijah Laney-Hamilton (18 points, six assists, five rebounds) fueled the victory, as did Leonie Fiebich with 12 points coming off the bench, including nine in the fourth.

The Dream were coming off a 78-74 victory Friday night over Connecticut, which ranks second behind the Liberty in the WNBA standings.

“It’s definitely a great confidence booster,” said Atlanta coach Tanisha Wright, who was once Charles’ teammate with the Liberty.

But Atlanta failed to make it two in a row and fell to 7-10. Allisha Gray led the Dream with 24 points. Charles had 16 points and 12 rebounds.

Liberty was only one point ahead in the fourth set, then opened the scoring with an 11-0 run.

Stewart made a free throw. Fiebich scored a layup on a pass from Jones, made a quick steal, missed a layup, grabbed the rebound and scored again. Ionescu followed with a basket from close range. And Jones followed with an open three-pointer, and the score was 70-59.

After the Dream fell to 70-67, Ionescu and Fiebich countered with three points for a nine-point lead. Cheyenne Parker-Tyus scored a basket for Atlanta, but Laney-Hamilton answered with a three for a 79-69 advantage with 2:33 left. From there, it didn’t get any closer to the final margin.

The home team fell behind in the second minute of the match and did not regain the lead until Laney-Hamilton kicked a corner three with three minutes remaining in the third quarter when they took the lead. ‘advantage 44-43.

It was the start of a 13-2 run. Stewart finished with a three-pointer to give the Liberty a seven-point lead.

But they failed to free themselves. Atlanta now led 60-59 after three games.

The Liberty didn’t do much good early on. They fell behind by 14 points at the end of the first quarter and trailed 24-13 entering the second.

At that point, the Dream had shot 11 of 18. The Liberty had shot 5 of 18. Atlanta had outscored them 16-8 in the paint and 12-4 in rebounds.

When Gray made a three-and-out at 2:32 of the second quarter, the Dream’s lead had grown to 16 at 31-15. Stewart scored five in an ensuing 8-0 run to cut the lead in half.

The score, however, jumped to 14 with just 1:40 left in the period. The Liberty then responded with a 9-0 run late in the match. Vandersloot’s three-pointer cut the deficit to 41-36 at halftime.

The rally was underway.

Now, the Liberty will get a rematch against Minnesota on Tuesday night at Barclays, a game that will actually count in the standings. The Liberty lost 94-89 in the Commissioner’s Cup final, their second loss to the Lynx in two tries.

“We had 14 turnovers, so it’s pretty tough to win against an elite team like that,” Liberty coach Sandy Brondello said.

It was also tough with Jones limited to three points. She has just seven in the two games against the Lynx.

“It might not be a game where she’ll score a lot of points, but she should allow someone else to score a lot,” Brondello said. “…Minnesota is an elite defensive team. If you watch them play, no other team plays like that with their scrambling, their rotation. It’s quite impressive because they never stop.

“So it’s about not allowing them to speed us up. So we worked a lot (Friday) on our spacing and our cutting and setting screens and where we can exploit them in that regard. But it’s still also about making shots. But you can’t turn the ball over.