Liberty trumps Aces for title
Las Vegas cold at wrong time
LAS VEGAS — Marine Johannes scored 17 points with five 3-pointers, Jonquel Jones had 16 points and 15 rebounds, and the New York Liberty beat the Las Vegas Aces 82-63 Tuesday night to win the third WNBA Commissioner’s Cup championship.
New York handed Las Vegas its first home loss of the season — in 16 games — after holding the Aces below 65 points for the second time in nine days.
New York closed the third quarter on a 15-5 run to take a 56- 48 lead — capped by back-to-back 3pointers by Kayla Thornton. Sabrina Ionescu added consecutive 3- pointers early in the fourth quarter to extend it to 66-52.
The Liberty finished 15 of 35 from 3-point range, while the Aces made just 5 of 26. New York also held A’ja Wilson, the Aces’ leading scorer at 21.2 points per game, to just nine points — all in the first half.
Breanna Stewart scored 13 points, Ionescu added 12 and Courtney Vandersloot had 11 points and 10 assists for New York. Jones was named the MVP of the championship game after securing her 11th doubledouble of the season. Thornton finished with eight points to help the Liberty have a 28-8 edge in bench points.
Jackie Young scored 16 points, and Chelsea Gray and Kelsey Plum each added 15 points for Las Vegas. The Aces shot just 33% from the field and were outrebounded 49-28.
The in-season tournament saw New York (24-6) and Las Vegas (27-3) finish as the top teams in the Eastern and Western conferences. Each member of the Liberty will receive about $30,000. Players on the Aces each get about $10,000.