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Championship DNA doesn’t have an actual dictionary definition, but you know it when you see it — and Sabrina Ionescu of the New York Liberty has it.
Ionescu, a streaky shooter as it is, had herself a woeful shooting game in New York’s 81-78 win over the Golden State Valkyries in San Francisco on Wednesday night, but the Liberty would not have won without her.
On a night in which she shot 1-11 from the field, Ionescu came up with a crucial steal with 26 seconds to go and the Liberty up by two. Seconds later, she calmly sank two free throws to put the defending champions up by two possessions.
Breanna Stewart knows a thing or two about championships, having won four of them in college and three more in the WNBA. She gave Ionescu her flowers after the game, saying she probably told her teammate it was “a big f***ing steal, because that's what it was.”
“It shows the great player that she is,” Stewart said. “Sometimes you’re going to struggle, sometimes you’re not going to make shots. Sometimes teams are going to make it really, really difficult for you. But as a great player you can’t let your mind wander and lose focus in the game. She stayed locked in.”
Stewart had 23 points to lead the Liberty while Kennedy Burke came off the bench and recaptured her three-point stroke, going 4-9 from deep and scoring 20. Marine Johannès hit three triples herself, and Rebekah Gardner made two more in a starting role in place of the still absent Leonie Fiebich.
The Wiz makes it look so effortless everytime 😮💨🪄@MarineJ5 👌 | #LIGHTITUPNYL🗽 pic.twitter.com/q0yvZbh6fO
— New York Liberty (@nyliberty) June 26, 2025
“That’s what this team is about,” Stewart said. “Some people are going to have off nights, some people are going to have on nights but we’re all going to make a difference when we’re on the court.”
Part of Ionescu’s struggles are a credit to a pesky Valkyries defense that has baffled the league so far. The team has not allowed more than 78 points in regulation since June 5 and Golden State is 5-2 in that time.
“Sabrina demands so much attention. We’re trying to get her off the ball too and they were being really physical,” Liberty coach Sandy Brondello said. “When our starting backcourt didn’t shoot the ball well and we find a way to win, that’s a win for us without key players. Sabrina, when it’s crunch time, she really stepped up and made those free thows. She’s never, ever out of the game.”
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The Liberty cleaned up their turnovers in win vs. Valkyries
The Valkyries didn’t make it easy for Ionescu, or anyone for that matter. After an electric first quarter that ended with Golden State leading 32-29, neither team scored more than 18 points in a quarter the rest of the game.
But unlike in their losses to the Seattle Storm and Phoenix Mercury when they turned it over 20 and 19 times respectively, New York took care of the ball. After consecutive losses in which their opponents attempted more than 10 more field goals than them, the Liberty coughed it up only eight times.
“That’s been our Achilles heel, especially the last two losses, we were just throwing the ball all over the gym,” Stewart said. “We were able to contain that a little bit.”
Ionescu was a factor there as well. Though she didn’t make shots, she also only committed one turnover and went 8-8 from the line. Compare that to the five turnovers she had in her last game against the Mercury.
Natasha Cloud, who is mired in a shooting slump herself, had three turnovers in 27 minutes, but that’s down from six against the Storm. It also came with seven assists and a steal.
The Liberty are by no means a perfect team, and they’ll remain deeply flawed until Fiebich returns from EuroBasket and Jonquel Jones recovers from her injury. As Brondello said after the game, however, they can still find ways to win. They did that against the Valkyries, and now it gets even tougher. They have a rematch with the Mercury in Phoenix on Friday.
