For a couple hours on Sunday, everything was right in the New York Liberty’s world. After four straight losses, including to two of the worst teams in the WNBA, New York got back in the win column as mid-season acquisition Emma Meesseman made her 2025 debut.
Meesseman wasn’t the story of the game — that goes to Sabrina Ionescu, whose 36 points (14-22 FG) fell one short of a career high to go with 11 rebounds in the 87-78 win. But Meesseman may have been the most important piece to the puzzle, knowing how the team will rely on her as it battles a spate of injuries.
The Liberty are still without Breanna Stewart, Nyara Sabally and Kennedy Burke, as they likely will be for the next couple weeks.
For Meesseman, the growing pains were there, particularly in the first quarter. She seemed just a bit off, both on her shot and her movements as she adjusts to her new team. But she improved as the game went on — a testament to the veteran’s ability to react in real time and her similarly experienced teammates getting a better feel for how she plays.
“I've never played with [Meesseman], and so now it's like trying to speed up the chemistry by communicating and being able to figure out what she likes, what I like, how we can get each other going and how we can play off one another,” Ionescu said. “To be able to do what she did in her first game, I don't think many people could do [that].”
Head coach Sandy Brondello initially wanted to limit Meesseman to 15 minutes. She played 17 and made them count. Meesseman finished with 11 points, two rebounds and three assists, shooting 5-5 from the line.
All her points came in the second half after she missed her first two attempts to begin the game.
“The first half, it was just [me] being thrown in there and having a feel for how this team plays,” Meesseman said. “I’ve played with a lot of people on this team already, but always in different teams, in different systems. So I have to get [used to] the system of New York, with these players, and in the second half [it] got better.”
Meesseman was with the team but on the bench Friday when this same Sun team — now 5-22 — handed the Liberty a shocking loss. Shorthanded as the team was, she knew exactly what she had to bring to the team on Sunday.
“I think just giving them some minutes, some glue, moving the ball, hitting people open,” she said. “Just beautiful basketball, being a part of that already in New York.”
“One of my mottos is to keep it simple,” she continued. “If it works, it works. If you see someone open and they cut, give them the ball and get a layup. It's easy.”
Liberty guard Sabrina Ionescu had an atypical 36 points
For the third time in five games, Ionescu put up 30-or-more points, earning MVP chants from the Liberty fans who made the trip to Uncasville.
Oddly for Ionescu, it came on one made three on only three attempts. Inside the arc, she went 13-19 and was a perfect 7-7 from the line.
“Playing at my own pace,” Ionescu said on the key to her success. “I think being able to be adaptable and understand ways that I can attack and continue to get downhill to the free throw line, usually opens up the three-point shot.”
That’s not to say she was perfect.
“I mean, I had seven turnovers, so that sucks,” Ionescu said.
The Liberty's busy stretch continues on Tuesday at home when they will looks to avenge their loss last week to Paige Bueckers and the Dallas Wings.
