Sabrina Ionescu shines as New York Liberty take 2-0 series lead over Las Vegas Aces

The Las Vegas Aces’ quest for a three-peat is close to an end as they went down 88-84 against the New York Liberty in Game 2 of the WNBA semifinals.

The win gave the Liberty a 2-0 lead in the best-of-five series with Sabrina Ionescu scoring a joint game-high 24 points to put the Aces on the brink.

New York, chasing a first ever championship, now looks likely to avenge last year’s defeat to the Aces in the WNBA Finals: no team in the history of the league has ever overturned a 2-0 deficit in a best-of-five playoffs series.

But the Liberty players aren’t getting ahead of themselves just yet.

“We haven’t won anything, I think everyone knows that,” Ionescu told reporters. “We did what we were supposed to do which was protect home court, win two at home, but it’s not like we’re patting ourselves on the back, celebrating, talking about how happy we are.”

The Liberty held a seven-point lead going into the fourth quarter but saw that advantage slip away throughout the final period, coming to a head when Alysha Clark drained a three-pointer for the Aces to tie the game at 81-81 with 1:31 remaining.

Ionescu, who also had nine rebounds and five assists, came up huge in the clutch, getting the Liberty back ahead with a lay-up and a 15-foot jumper and then also converting three free throws late to push the lead to four with eight seconds on the clock.

League MVP A’ja Wilson gave the Aces hope when a jumper brought up her 24th point of the night, but two free-throws from New York star Breanna Stewart – who finished with 15 points, seven rebounds and eight assists – in the final seconds closed out the game.

For the Aces, a disappointing second quarter, in which they were outscored 24-13, saw their early lead slip away, and they had given up 20 points off turnovers by the half.

“Let me be mad at the refs, let me be mad at the New York Liberty, I don’t want to be mad at ourselves,” head coach Becky Hammon told reporters. “But that’s what it was. It was Aces versus Aces tonight, we were beating ourselves.”

Game 3 of the series is scheduled for Friday in Las Vegas when the Aces will look to mount what would be a historic comeback in search of the league’s second ever three-peat.

In Tuesday’s other game, the Minnesota Lynx leveled their series with a 77-70 win over the Connecticut Sun in Minneapolis.

Minnesota was led by Courtney Williams with 17 points and Alanna Smith with 15 points, while WNBA Defensive Player of the Year Napheesa Collier, who scored a combined 80 points in the Lynx’s 2-0 sweep against the Phoenix Mercury in the first round, had a more subdued night with nine points, though came up big on defense with 12 rebounds and four blocks.

The series now heads to Connecticut for the next two games before a potential decider in Minnesota next week.

Sun forward Alyssa Thomas led all scorers with 18 points, but it was in a losing cause for Connecticut, who is looking to return to the WNBA Finals after losing against the Aces two years ago.

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