The New York Liberty look to snap a season-worst three-game losing streak when they visit the reeling Connecticut Sun on Friday night in Uncasville, Conn.<\/p>\n
This is the first of a two-game set in Connecticut between the defending WNBA champion Liberty (17-9) and the Sun (4-21), with the second contest on Sunday afternoon.<\/p>\n
The short-handed Liberty are coming off a 100-93 loss at the Minnesota Lynx on Wednesday. All-Star guard Sabrina Ionescu scored 31 points along with five rebounds and four assists in the loss.<\/p>\n
Two-time Most Valuable Player Breanna Stewart (right knee bone bruise) is out indefinitely. Nyara Sabally (knee) and Kennedy Burke (calf) also didn\u2019t play. Natasha Cloud battled through sickness.<\/p>\n
Ionescu lauded the Liberty\u2019s effort in the narrow defeat.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf there\u2019s ever a good loss, this was one of those losses that you can live with,\u201d Ionescu said via the New York Post. \u201cEveryone played as hard as they could. Natasha was sick and played through it. Just really proud of the way we were able to fight back and that\u2019s the standard.\u201d<\/p>\n
The explosive Liberty are first in the league in points (87.9) and 3-pointers (10.0) per game.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the Sun have the worst record in the WNBA and have dropped five of the last six games, most recently a 101-85 loss to the visiting Seattle Storm on Monday.<\/p>\n
Bria Hartley led the Sun with 17 points and four assists. Tina Charles, in her 14th season, surpassed 1,000 assists in her career in the loss. According to the Sun, she\u2019s the lone player in league history with at least 8,000 points, 4,000 rebounds and 1,000 assists.<\/p>\n
After routing the expansion Golden State Valkyries 95-64 on Sunday, the Sun had a chance for their first winning streak of the season. Instead, Seattle shot 60.9 percent from the field (42 of 69) and made nine 3-pointers in 20 attempts (45 percent) to burn Connecticut.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know we played (a back-to-back) but that\u2019s not an excuse,\u201d Sun rookie forward Aneesah Morrow said via CT Insider. \u201cWe have to show up every day and defend. We have to be intentional about our defense.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the first meeting this season, the host Liberty cruised to a 100-52 victory over the Sun on June 1. Ionescu paced New York with 18 points and Charles had 10 points for Connecticut.<\/p>\n
\u2013Field Level Media<\/p>\n
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