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For a team that’s 24-4, the New York Liberty have needed the clichéd “next woman up” line too often.
On Tuesday, Sabrina Ionescu (neck) and Betnijah Laney-Hamilton (knee) sat out and Leonie Fiebich (rib) left after 12 minutes with an injury.
Kennedy Burke was that next woman up and she delivered.
In 25 minutes off the bench, she scored a season-high 13 points on 5-7 shooting. Burke didn’t have the biggest performance of the game — three Liberty starters had double-doubles — but it mattered. The Liberty beat the Dallas Wings, 94-74, at Barclays Center Tuesday night for their seventh win in a row.
“She just keeps getting better and better,” Liberty coach Sandy Brondello said. “I just feel like she feels more comfortable now at both ends of the floor, but offensively she's given us some room, a real great spark.”
Tuff drive for K-Beezy 🔥 pic.twitter.com/iN2cDm73WE
— New York Liberty (@nyliberty) August 21, 2024
To be fair to Burke, she didn’t just appear out of nowhere. She’s a five-year WNBA veteran who has started for the Indiana Fever, and played significant minutes for the Washington Mystics. Just a month ago, she played 25-plus minutes in the Liberty’s last two games before the Olympic break.
It’s the opportunity Burke sought when she signed with the Liberty in February, opting to return to the states after being named second-team All-Euro League last season with Villeneuve-d'Ascq.
Burke came to the Liberty fresh off their WNBA Finals appearance. Media already deemed them a super-team, with Ionescu, Breanna Stewart, and Jonquel Jones at the forefront.
“[Brondello] told me it’s gonna be different than it was overseas,” Burke said. “She brought me here for a reason and just the fact she says no matter what she believes in me — and she reminds me that.”
Brondello spoke glowingly of Burke in the postgame press conference, teasing what fans could expect from her as she earns more playing time.
“She's got a really quick first step. I think everyone's getting to see that,” Brondello said. “She gets quickly to the rim. She can shoot the three. She's quite versatile and she's getting a real good chemistry with [Jones and Stewart].”
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Kennedy Burke and the Liberty went to work during the Olympic break
Four Liberty players and Brondello spent the last few weeks in Paris at the Olympics, leaving seven players in Brooklyn with the assistant coaching staff. They didn’t let that time go to waste.
“We had people come in and work hard and we wanted to get something from it and we knew it was going to pay off,” Courtney Vandersloot said. “I think that you're seeing this in glimpses. KB has been amazing off the bench.”
Though they worked hard over break, the team has seemed reenergized for the second half. It started with a blowout win over the Sparks last week and carried over into another win in Las Vegas against the Aces. On Tuesday, their ball movement stayed crisp, and their defense stayed sharp.
Vandersloot said that the players who stayed stateside went to work on their defense, guarding ball screens and letting post players get some practice facing the guards and vice versa.
“It prepared me a lot, honestly,” Burke said of the workouts. “It was an intense two weeks and we've done a good job of just bouncing back and having the Olympians come back and just staying ready because obviously [Ionescu] didn't play today, but I feel like we stepped up really well.”
They’ll have to keep stepping up. On Tuesday, the Liberty began a stretch of 12 straight days of playing every other day. New York did not have an update on Fiebich after the game, and the possibility exists that the Liberty will have to continue this stretch with eight healthy players.
Burke stepped up against the Wings. The Liberty face Dallas again on Thursday and they’ll need another “next woman up.”
