Three days after losing to the Atlanta Dream in a listless regular season finale, the New York Liberty refused to have a repeat performance on Sunday.
Against the same Atlanta team, rookie Leonie Fiebich scorched the nets to lead her Liberty to an 83-69 win in Game 1 of the first round of the WNBA Playoffs.
Fiebich was able to come out of the gate strong thanks to a new-look lineup that Sandy Brondello brought out for the playoffs. The Liberty coach plugged Fiebich into the starting lineup and opted to use Courtney Vandersloot off the bench. It was the rookie’s first WNBA playoff game and Vandersloot’s first time not starting since 2017.
Fiebich's 15 first-half points came on perfect shooting (5-5) and were a league record for the most points scored before a miss in any playoff game in league history.
As a team, the Liberty didn’t miss a shot until the 2:33 mark of the first quarter — also a WNBA playoff record.
“Nothing fazes Leo. It doesn’t matter, and that’s what you love about her,” Brondello said. “She’s a professional and that’s what you want so it was never any fear — I knew it would be great.”
It’s only fair to note that while Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese, and Co. are rookies right out of college, Fiebich is a 24-year-old newcomer to the league who has already played eight years professionally overseas. Her prior experience is what gave her coaches and teammates the confidence that she could handle the heightened role.
“She came in pro ready,” Vandersloot said. “We knew it right from the beginning that she was going to play a big role.”
Though now playing in a bench role, Vandersloot made history of her own on Sunday. Her three assists made her the all-time WNBA postseason assist leader as she passed Sue Bird with 385 in her career.
Breanna Stewart, who had 20 points and 11 rebounds herself, echoed Vandersloot's praise of Fiebich. As one of the most playoff-tested Liberty players, Stewart elected not to give Fiebich a pregame pep talk before the biggest game of her WNBA career.
“I didn’t say anything to Leo because I didn’t think she needed it,” Stewart said. “Even though this was her first playoff game, the way that she's built her confidence from the start of the season until now, she’s a player that we need and we rely upon.”
Though Fiebich’s scoring wasn’t quite as prolific in the second half, she still finished with a nearly immaculate line of 21 points on 7-8 shooting from the field and a 4-4 performance from three.
Dream coach Tanisha Wright is a Leonie Fiebich fan
Fiebich is one of those players that opposing coaches admire when they’re playing someone else and loathe when they finally match up against them. In 40 regular season games (including 15 starts), Fiebich showed she can wreak havoc on both ends of the court. She was the best three-point shooter the Liberty had this year at 43.3%, while her length and defensive instincts made steals and overall disruption come naturally.
Look no further than the job she did on former No. 1 pick Rhyne Howard on Sunday, frustrating her and holding her to 5-14 shooting (2-7 3PT).
It's no wonder Fiebich broke Maya Moore’s rookie record with 18 regular season games with a plus/minus of +10 or better.
Dream head coach Tanisha Wright met with the media before Game 1 and shared her admiration for Fiebich’s game.
“I love her game. I think obviously, her three-point ability, spreading the floor, keeping it spaced for players like Stewie, [Sabrina Ionescu], and Jonquel [Jones], I think that really helped them as a floor spacer,” Wright said. “She’s a really good defender. She’s long, she has great length, she has a great physicality coming from Europe.”
That admiration, predictably, converted to frustration after the game as Wright praised Fiebich’s outing.
“She shot the ball really well. A lot of those opportunities came in transition, from us being in scramble mode,” Wright said. “We didn’t do a great job of keeping people in front of us so they were able to move the ball well.”
The Associated Press announced on Sunday that Clark won Rookie of the Year unanimously — and deservedly so. It also named the Aces’ Tiffany Hayes won the Sixth Player of the Year.
Clark was the obvious choice and Hayes is more than defensible. Yet it seems like the broader WNBA world was overlooking Fiebich. Considering what she just did on the sport’s biggest stage, that isn’t going to be the case much longer.
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