{"id":280796,"date":"2026-06-29T01:34:07","date_gmt":"2026-06-29T01:34:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/280796\/"},"modified":"2026-06-29T01:34:07","modified_gmt":"2026-06-29T01:34:07","slug":"valkyries-crush-liberty-as-defense-shuts-down-sabrina-ionescu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/280796\/","title":{"rendered":"Valkyries crush Liberty as defense shuts down Sabrina Ionescu"},"content":{"rendered":"

SAN FRANCISCO \u2014 It only took 1:48<\/a> for the Valkyries<\/a> to take the heart of the league\u2019s most talented team.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Clinging onto a one-point lead at the end of the second quarter, the packed crowd at Chase Center was mostly quiet as a choppy first half kept the New York Liberty at arm\u2019s length of the Valkyries\u2019 lead for much of the first two quarters.<\/p>\n

But a spirited run by Golden State at the end of the second period woke up the Ballhalla faithful and left the East Coast visitors scrambling for answers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Valkyries scored 11 unanswered points to end the second quarter, giving them the momentum to beat the Liberty 76-67 to end their three-game homestand undefeated<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Golden State never trailed and held Walnut Creek native and Liberty star point guard Sabrina Ionescu<\/a> to nine points on 3-of-10 shooting. The Valkyries held a double-digit lead for much of the second half before letting their foot off the gas in the closing minutes.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Valkyries used a balanced scoring attack with Kaila Charles leading the way with 13 points.\u00a0 Kayla Thornton scored 11 points while Cecilia Zandalasini and Janelle Sala\u00fcn each added 10.\u00a0<\/p>\n

All-Star Breanna Stewart had 15 points and Jonquel Jones had a game-high 21 points to go along with seven rebounds.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A tightly-officiated first-half led to 25 fouls between the two teams as the physicality the Valkyries were able to get away with in their previous game against the Atlanta Dream was nonexistent.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Liberty got as close as they would ever get when Jones hit two free throws to cut the deficit to 30-29 with just over two minutes left.\u00a0<\/p>\n

On the next possession, the Valkyries responded with a deep 3-pointer from Zandalasini, and the run started from there.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Thornton knocked down a late-clock 3-pointer, Gabby Williams hit a 30-foot pull-up and Sala\u00fcn put in a tough shot at the rim to cap off an 11-0 run, giving the Valkyries a 41-29 lead at halftime.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Despite staring down a double-digit lead, a Liberty comeback was not out of the realm of possibilities. The Valkyries\u2019 offensive droughts this season have largely come in the third quarter, and the Liberty have the talent to put up points in a hurry.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But the Valkyries made sure New York wouldn\u2019t even come close.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Golden State outscored the Liberty 23-19 in the third quarter to secure a comfortable 16-point lead by the time the final 10 minutes rolled around.\u00a0<\/p>\n

After trailing by as much as nine, the Liberty cut the Valkyries\u2019 advantage to a little as 13. But New York struggled to get stops on the other end as Golden State cruised to another win.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Burton gets back on track<\/p>\n

After a rough stretch of recent games, point guard Veronica Burton was quintessential in Sunday\u2019s win.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The reigning most improved player of the year totaled eight points and eight assists. She hit her lone 3-point attempt and had a plus-minus rating of +25.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Ionescu, DeMarco return<\/p>\n

Sunday\u2019s game was a homecoming for Ionescu and coach Chris DeMarco.\u00a0<\/p>\n

DeMarco, a Marin County native, spent 15 seasons with the Golden State Warriors as an assistant under Steve Kerr and played at Dominican University in 2008.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Liberty\u2019s staff has a heavy Bay Area influence with former Piedmont High star Courtney Paris and St. Ignatius alum Addi Walters on staff.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI have a tremendous amount of gratitude for this organization,\u201d DeMarco said before Sunday\u2019s game. Obviously, I spent half my career in this building after we left Oakland, and it\u2019s been awesome seeing all the familiar faces. I have deep appreciation for all the people who\u2019ve helped me grow my career, and this is home for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ionescu was one of the Bay Area\u2019s most decorated high school basketball players during her time at Miramonte High in Orinda.\u00a0<\/p>\n

She scored 2,606 points and is the school\u2019s all-time leader in assists (769), steals (549) and triple-doubles (21). She was named a McDonald\u2019s All-American as a senior.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first game I look at when the schedule comes out is when do I get to go home, so I\u2019m really excited,\u201d Ionescu said. \u201cWe\u2019ll have a lot of family here, and it will be nice to play in front of the home crowd.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN FRANCISCO \u2014 It only took 1:48 for the Valkyries to take the heart of the league\u2019s most…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":280797,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[16889,4567,9213,2136,107759,16890,68628,9211,33457,85,107760,107761,107762,64168,9,11,10,49,51,50,29883,78074,107763,8725,107764,78075,9215,107765,29885,102903,9216,319,11452],"class_list":["post-280796","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-alameda-county","tag-basketball","tag-bay-area","tag-california","tag-contra-costa-county","tag-east-bay","tag-golden-state-valkyries","tag-inside-sports","tag-lake-county","tag-latest-headlines","tag-marin-county","tag-mendocino-county","tag-monterey-county","tag-napa-county","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news","tag-new-york-state","tag-new-york-state-headlines","tag-new-york-state-news","tag-north-bay","tag-peninsula","tag-san-benito-county","tag-san-francisco","tag-san-francisco-county","tag-san-mateo-county","tag-santa-clara-county","tag-santa-cruz-county","tag-solano-county","tag-sonoma-county","tag-south-bay","tag-sports","tag-wnba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280796","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=280796"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280796\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/280797"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=280796"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=280796"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=280796"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}