There are a few reasons why the New York Liberty stand out as one of the favorites to win the 2023 WNBA championship, and Sabrina Ionescu's incredible play is one of them.
Despite suffering an 88-75 loss to the Las Vegas Aces, the team with the best record in the league, on Thursday night, Ionescu showed out and dropped 22 points on 6-of-12 shooting from beyond the arc (7-of-16 overall from the field).
In doing so, Ionescu became the undisputed 3-point queen in WNBA history (when it comes to volume of triples made in a single game for a single-season). Her Thursday night onslaught from three was the 11th game this season in which she made five or more triples — the most in the league's 27 years of existence.
The Liberty star surpassed Phoenix Mercury legend Diana Taurasi in the process. Taurasi made five or more threes in 10 games during the 2006 season, which is indisputably the best season of the Mercury star's career. Thus, for Ionescu to do this says a lot about her marksmanship from deep, and the green light she has when it comes to letting it fly from beyond the arc.
Even then, it's certainly impressive that Taurasi held on to this achievement for so long. For her to pull this off in 2006 — way before the 3-point revolution took place in the NBA — is an exceptionally difficult feat, and one that sets the Mercury legend apart from most of her peers.
Going back to Sabrina Ionescu, the Liberty guard now has 107 triples on the season — which is good for third all-time in a single season in WNBA history. She surpassed Diana Taurasi's 2018 season in doing so (the Mercury star drained 106 treys during that year). Now, she only has two individual seasons to beat to set the all-time single-season record. Ionescu only needs to surpass Kelsey Plum's 113 during the 2022 season and Taurasi's 121 during the 2006 campaign.
The Liberty still has nine games left in their season, so Ionescu has a ton of time to cement herself as the WNBA's undisputed 3-point queen. Given her current pace, it'll take the 25-year old guard around four more games to fully surpass Taurasi, a mere inevitability for as long as she remains healthy.
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