The No. 5 seed New York Liberty hosted the No. 4 Phoenix Mercury at Barclays Center last night in game 2 of the first round. The Liberty took game 1 on the road in Phoenix and won 76-69 in an overtime thriller.
In game 2, the Mercury looked poised and ready to go after a disappointing end in game 1 resulted in a lot of missed shots down the stretch. Breanna Stewart of the Liberty had a knee injury in overtime of game 1 and was available to play. At the end of the first quarter it was a tie game at 25 apiece. This would be the only bright spot for the Liberty though as the Mercury would keep on rolling.
The Mercury would outscore the Liberty 26-12 in the second quarter which propelled them to a 51-37 lead at half time. In the 3rd quarter, the Mercury would blow it open as they scored six points in a row to give the lead to a 20 point lead.
The Mercury held the Liberty without a made field goal until 1:35 left in the 3rd quarter as Emma Meesseman made the basket and she had 11 points on the night. The Mercury would win the 4th quarter 17-13 and pull away with an 86-60 win.
The Mercury had five players who scored in double figures. Satou Sabally and Alyssa Thomas led the way with 15 points each. Sabally had a bounce back game after she shot 2-17 from the field in game 1. On the Liberty, no one had a good performance except for Emma Meesseman off the bench who had 11 points as she would be the only player who scored in double figures. Breanna Stewart played limited minutes as she had 6 points. Sabrina Ionescu had 9 points on bad efficiency. Jonquel Jones finished with 7 points and 13 rebounds. The Mercury starters outscored the Liberty starting five 56-32. The Mercury were efficient shooting 49% from the field and the Liberty shot 30%.
The win or go home Game 3 is Tomorrow Night on Friday September 19th at 9 p.m. The Mercury look to take down the defending champions and the Liberty look to continue their season for their quest to repeat.
