Liberty fall to new-look Sun as eight-game win streak is snapped

Sandy Brondello didn’t hesitate before the game.

This could be a preview of the WNBA Finals.

The Liberty hold the top seed in the standings.

The Sun, whom the Liberty had defeated in six consecutive matchups dating back to their semifinal series last season, sat 3.5 games behind them.

But there was a difference Saturday.

A major one.

Connecticut went out and made the in-season splash ahead of the Aug. 20 trade deadline that doesn’t happen often in the WNBA.

Leonie Fiebich making most of Liberty opportunity

They brought in Marina Mabrey — one of the league’s best 3-point shooters — from the Sky and added her to a lineup that already included Alyssa Thomas and DeWanna Bonner.

And for one game at Barclays Center, for the final regular-season meeting between these two teams before a potential collision in the playoffs, the Liberty encountered just how difficult it might be to defeat the new-look Sun.

Part of that stemmed from their 19 turnovers and 21 percent shooting from beyond the arc. Part of that stemmed from the Sun’s defense cutting off the Liberty’s ball movement and avenues to — and through — the paint.

Breanna Stewart finished with 15 points while Leonie Fiebich added 14, but Jonquel Jones managed just 10 on 4-for-10 shooting.

Sabrina Ionescu finished with 12 points, shooting 2-for-12 from 3-point range.

But Mabrey finished with 15 points, six rebounds and four assists to propel the Sun to a 72-64 victory over the Liberty, snapping their eight-game winning streak, holding them to a season-low in points and trimming their advantage for the No. 1 seed to 2.5 games.

“Sometimes you need a little punch in the face to wake you up a little bit,” Brondello said.

Breanna Stewart digs deep to lift Liberty over Wings for eighth straight win

The end of the streak provided a wake-up call of sorts, after cracks that Stewart said first surfaced earlier in the week against the Wings reappeared.

They only trailed by two after the opening frame, but that deficit swelled to 11 in the third quarter before Fiebich went on a personal 7-0 run.

Ionescu missed her first six 3-pointers before connecting on a deep shot near the logo with the final seconds of the half slipping away.

There were the costly turnovers, too, including when Stewart took possession late in the fourth quarter but then gave it right back to Bonner on what was supposed to be an outlet pass.

The Liberty also kept settling for 3-pointers and aiming for the “home run play,” Stewart said.

“I just didn’t think we had our usual flow,” Brondello said. “We’re not an iso team, and I thought we got into too much iso. That doesn’t play well with us, so we gotta get back to what our true identity is — and that’s moving the ball and creating for each other.”

Connecticut’s addition of Mabrey added another variable, too.

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After Stewart hit a basket in the opening quarter, Mabrey responded with her first jumper of the game, and she curled around a screen to hit a 3-pointer later in the frame.

The Liberty double-teamed her at one point in the second quarter to create some chaos and force a turnover, but Jones lost possession at the other end — and Mabrey then hit a 3-pointer in transition.

“It kinda provides a different layer of how you have to come out and defend them,” Ionescu said, “because she’s able to kind of attract so much on the offensive end in terms of what she’s capable of doing, her passing ability, how much gravity she draws just as a player.”

If the Liberty and the Sun meet in the playoffs, there will again be some lineup changes.

Mabrey might have worked her way into Connecticut’s starting group permanently by then.

Betnijah Laney-Hamilton — the Liberty’s defensive anchor who participated in warmups with the team but didn’t play — is expected to return to the lineup Monday for the first time since July 6.

Still, in the same answer when she hinted at how this could be a WNBA Finals preview before the Liberty’s first loss since July 6 against the Fever, Brondello cautioned about not wanting to “give them any hope.”

About wanting to complete the season sweep without any setbacks. But then that’s exactly what happened.

“I can promise you we’re not gonna have a game like that again,” Ionescu said.

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