Breanna Stewart, Jonquel Jones help Liberty completely overpower expansion Valkyries
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Four games into the Valkyries' inaugural season, the Liberty might've given the WNBA's newest team its rudest 'welcome to the league' moment yet.
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The Liberty overwhelmed the Valkyries in almost every way during Tuesday night's 95-67 romp to keep going their perfect 4-0 start.
Breanna Stewart scored a game-high 24 points, Jonquel Jones recorded her third double-double of the season with 13 points and 10 rebounds. And Marine Johannès added 18 points with a career-high-tying six 3-pointers.
The Liberty showed no mercy at the beginning and end. They bullied the Valkyries like a varsity team beating on the freshmen, scoring 32 points on 23 Golden State turnovers.
Breanna Stewart, who scored a game-high 24 points, goes up for a shot during the Liberty's win over the Valkyries on May 27, 2025. NBAE via Getty Images
New York jumped out to a 22-3 lead in the first seven minutes of Tuesday's game and never looked back.
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'Our offense is rolling,' Sabrina Ionescu said. 'Our ability to understand how we want to get each and every one of us involved and the ability to kind of use the gravity that we have to get other people open, and you're able to just see unselfish basketball.'
The Liberty led by 19 points at halftime.
The Valkyries (2-2) managed to trim it to an 11-point game at one point in the third quarter, but that was the closest they got.
Seven of the eight Liberty players who attempted a 3 made at least one, and four made at least two. New York combined to shoot 14-for-35 from deep.
Marine Johannès, putting up a shot, scored 18 points on six 3-pointers in the Liberty's win over the Valkyries on May 27, 2025. Heather Khalifa for New York Post
There still were some defensive lulls that the Liberty are working to iron out — especially in the third — which has been an early season issue for this team.
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'It's just putting together four quarters now,' coach Sandy Brondello said. 'There's some areas we weren't very good. We still gave up a lot of 3s. I thought our rotations were slow, especially in that third quarter.'
But the Liberty shot 12-for-19 in the fourth quarter and outscored the Valkyries 28-16 to close out a comfortable win.
The vibes have been good for this team early on, evidenced by the way they act and celebrate when they're not on the court.
Liberty guard Sabrina Ionescu (20) high-fives teammate Natasha Cloud (9) during the first half of a game against the Golden State Valkyries at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y. on Tuesday, May 27, 2025. Heather Khalifa for the NY Post
'This is the most fun I've probably ever had just within a team,' Ionescu said. 'We're closer than we've ever been. Everyone's just selfless, committed to wanting to help this team win. There's no bad apple, so to say in terms of any negativity [or] anyone trying to go out there and focus on the themselves, everyone just wants to do what's best for the team.'
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The Liberty boast arguably the best starting lineup the league has seen in years, and their bench is one of the WNBA's deepest. The only way for New York to be successful in its title defense is by players willing to sacrifice personal stats for the team.
So far, that's exactly what the Liberty have chosen to do.
Jonquel Jones, who had 13 points and 10 rebounds, grabs a board during the Liberty's win over the Valkyries. Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images
The Liberty have posted the league's best assist-to-turnover ratio (1.98) four games into the season. They also have averaged 25.3 assists per game, which puts them only .2 behind the league-leading Minnesota Lynx in that category.
In Tuesday's bloodbath, the Liberty had 30 assists on 37 field goals.
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New York's offense has been potent through the season's opening stretch. Then again, how could it not be with all the weapons it has at its disposal?
The Liberty have scored at least 90 points in each of their first four games, a franchise record. However, they still may not be where they want to be on defense.
And there's areas on offense to clean up, too. Golden State is a scrappy team, and New York had 13 turnovers Tuesday.
But it's no doubt been a promising start for the reigning champions.
The Liberty again host the Valkyries on Thursday before heading to Washington on Friday for their first of two back-to-backs this season.
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