MONTREAL — The final few minutes of Sunday’s game between the Liberty and the Toronto Tempo were chaotic.
Breanna Stewart and Sabrina Ionescu led the Liberty on a furious second-half comeback for the second consecutive game.
But much like Saturday in Minnesota, the Liberty’s efforts came up short in Sunday’s 93-91 loss to the Tempo.
Trailing by 15 points with 8:56 left in the fourth quarter, the Liberty mounted yet another monstrous rally.
Stewart recorded back-to-back steals. On the second, she poked the ball to Ionescu, whose layup made it a three-point game.
Then, Stewart blocked former teammate Isabelle Harrison.
Stewart was sent to the free-throw line on the next possession, where she trimmed the Tempo’s lead to one with 2:23 left in the game.
The game was tight the rest of the way.
With 1:30 left, Ionescu fed Stewart for a game-tying layup.
There was a bizarre sequence where Marina Mabrey appeared to have Jonquel Jones’ shoe. Betnijah Laney-Hamilton got ejected after picking up two technical fouls.
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Nyara Sabally made the go-ahead layup that ultimately sealed the Tempo’s win.
Too often the Liberty have found themselves playing from behind and trying to dig themselves out of double-digit holes as of late. Jones stated the obvious Saturday, that they needed to stop doing that.
And yet, Sunday the Liberty were back in familiar territory.
The Liberty have trailed by double digits in five of their past seven games, going 0-5 in those situations.
The Liberty looked every bit like a team playing in their second game in 26 hours without two of their most important players.
Neither Leonie Fiebich (foot soreness) nor Satou Sabally (concussion protocol) made the trip.
Stewart rebounded from an uncharacteristic first half, during which she went 2-for-11 from the field for four points. She finished with 22 points.
Ionescu had 28 points and eight rebounds.
