the Liberty\u2019s 76-69 overtime victory<\/a> against the Mercury in Game 1 of their first-round series wasn\u2019t a surprise to anyone on her team.<\/p>\n\u201cIt\u2019s funny, she had missed some early on, and I knew she was gonna hit the biggest one of the night,\u201d Sabrina Ionescu said. \u201cIt\u2019s just what she does.\u201d<\/p>\n
Leonie Fiebich #13 of the New York Liberty drives to the basket during the game against the Phoenix Mercury on September 14, 2025. NBAE via Getty Images<\/p>\n
Sure enough, Fiebich delivered down the stretch.<\/p>\n
Ionescu was getting hounded by Mercury guard Monique Akoa Makani and Alyssa Thomas was right there, too. Fiebich came to her aid with a perfectly timed backdoor cut toward the basket.<\/p>\n
Fiebich received a bounce pass from Ionescu for what appeared to be an easy layup to give the Liberty a seven-point lead with 2:20 left in overtime.<\/p>\n
Moments later, Natasha Cloud connected on the perimeter with Fiebich, who drained the dagger 3.<\/p>\n
The way Fiebich ended the game should fuel her confidence heading into what could be a decisive Game 2 in Brooklyn on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
After the win, Cloud lauded Fiebich for not letting what appeared to be an off night offensively impact her defense.<\/p>\n
Leonie Fiebich #13 of the Liberty dribbles the ball while Monique Akoa Makani #8 of the Phoenix Mercury attempts to block her during the first quarter at PHX Arena on September 14, 2025. Getty Images<\/p>\n
\u201cLeo does so much defensively that won\u2019t necessarily show up on the stat sheet, won\u2019t necessarily be talked about even on broadcast, but she is so sound to everything that we do that when you remove her, you feel a little bit of chaos because we don\u2019t have our stability there,\u201d Cloud said. \u201cSo even though Leo might not have had those big shots in the beginning, she made it when it mattered. But she impacts the game much more than just the scoring.\u201d<\/p>\n
After Saturday\u2019s practice, the Liberty\u2019s final tuneup before the playoffs, Cloud was sitting alongside Kennedy Burke and watching Fiebich shoot.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Cloud doesn\u2019t think she missed a single attempt.<\/p>\n
\u201cLeo\u2019s form is so f\u2013king pretty, like it is cash,\u201d Cloud said. \u201cIt is repetitive. It is beautiful.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
When Fiebich\u2019s shot wasn\u2019t falling Sunday, Cloud encouraged her by dapping her up and telling her that, \u201cNext one. When it goes in, that b-tch gonna be sweet.\u201d<\/p>\n
It sure was in overtime.<\/p>\n
Leonie Fiebich #13 of the New York Liberty drives to the basket. NBAE via Getty Images<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is why we don\u2019t ever hesitate,\u201d Cloud said. \u201cWe have the most confidence in all of our shooters around, but Leo especially.\u201d<\/p>\n
Added Ionescu: \u201cShe\u2019s one of the best 3-point shooters in the world and we know that. We continue to believe in her. She continues to believe in herself, put in the work. But I mean, that was the biggest shot of the night that she hit and kind of just solidified us winning this game.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PHOENIX \u2014 Leonie Fiebich didn\u2019t have the best start to Sunday\u2019s game. Her defense was good, but her…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":157919,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[436,5551,99,434],"class_list":["post-157918","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wnba","tag-new-york-liberty","tag-phoenix-mercury","tag-sports","tag-wnba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157918","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=157918"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157918\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/157919"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=157918"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=157918"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=157918"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}