{"id":138365,"date":"2025-09-07T01:48:07","date_gmt":"2025-09-07T01:48:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/138365\/"},"modified":"2025-09-07T01:48:07","modified_gmt":"2025-09-07T01:48:07","slug":"liberty-reserve-sparks-comeback-over-storm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/138365\/","title":{"rendered":"Liberty Reserve Sparks Comeback Over Storm"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kennedy Burke scored all 13 of her points in the second half and provided the spark the New York Liberty needed to rally past the Seattle Storm <\/a>84-76 on Friday night, snapping a five-game road losing streak.<\/p>\n

The box score will tell you Breanna Stewart led the way. The two-time MVP powered New York with 24 points on 5-for-11 shooting, adding a season-high five blocks – more than the entire Storm roster combined. It will also show Leonie Fiebich\u2019s career night: 21 points, matching her personal WNBA best in both scoring and threes made (4-for-6), all while going a perfect 5-for-5 from the line.<\/p>\n

But for those who watched the game unfold, the difference-maker in the Liberty\u2019s win wasn\u2019t Stewart or Fiebich: it was Burke who swung the momentum. Scoreless in the first half, she was reinserted late in the third quarter with New York trailing by nine, the Storm\u2019s largest lead. From there, she attacked the basket, scoring eight points in the period to pull the Liberty within one heading into the fourth.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe was really disruptive and really aggressive,\u201d Fiebich said of Burke, when asked by Myles Ehrlich of Winsidr. \u201cYeah, I mean, I love the aggressiveness she played with in the second half.” <\/p>\n

\"Kennedy<\/p>\n

Brandon Todd \/ NY Liberty<\/p>\n

Burke had been quiet in the first half with a minus-4 in the plus-minus column. Last season, that might\u2019ve meant the end of her night. Last year, inconsistent minutes made it difficult for her to find a rhythm. But in Sandy Brondello\u2019s rotation this year, Burke has earned the trust and freedom to play through those early struggles. That trust paid off in Seattle. <\/p>\n

Fiebich went on to praise Burke’s play.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know, when she gets downhill and when she gets speed, it\u2019s really hard to stop her,” she said. “I know she, like, fumbled the ball a bit in the first half, and it was a bit unlucky, and then she just, you know, was a little bit stronger in the second half with it, and she hit some really important shots for us, and also on defense.\u201d <\/p>\n

Burke opened the final quarter with a go-ahead basket and later forced a turnover on Storm guard, Tiffany Mitchell with 8:41 remaining, helping New York seize control for good. Seattle never regained the lead after Burke\u2019s defensive stop. She finished with a season-best plus-minus of +17, the highest mark of any player in the game.<\/p>\n

On a Liberty bench<\/a> bolstered by big-name additions like Emma Meesseman and return of Marine Johann\u00e8s, Burke\u2019s role could easily be overlooked. But she remains one of only two bench players from last year\u2019s Finals team. That continuity matters. She knows the system, understands what\u2019s needed, and has become a steadying presence for a bench unit that will be vital in New York\u2019s pursuit of a back-to-back title run.<\/p>\n

The Liberty, who avoided a season sweep by Seattle, return home to face the Washington Mystics on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Make sure you bookmark Liberty on SI for the latest news, exclusive interviews, film breakdowns and so much more!<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kennedy Burke scored all 13 of her points in the second half and provided the spark the New…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":138366,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[99,434],"class_list":["post-138365","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wnba","tag-sports","tag-wnba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138365","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=138365"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138365\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/138366"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=138365"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=138365"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=138365"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}