Liberty use balanced effort to get needed redemption against Wings

Liberty coach Sandy Brondello didn’t want to watch the tape from the Liberty’s last outing against the Wings. If she could have it her way, she would’ve burned the evidence and never spoke of it again.

That’s how embarrassing the 10-point loss in Dallas was last week.

But the Liberty needed to see it. They needed to acknowledge the perfunctory effort and vow not to let it happen again.

The Liberty redeemed themselves Tuesday night in front of their home crowd, beating the Wings, 85-76.

The Wings did their best to play scrappy and frustrate the Liberty. But every time Dallas went on a run, New York responded with one of their own before officially putting away the game in the fourth quarter for the win.

The Liberty didn’t need another heroic performance from Sabrina Ionescu to get the job done. Instead, they got contributions from up and down the roster.

Jonquel Jones picked up her 41st double-double with the Liberty, recording 15 points and 10 rebounds. Natasha Cloud added 12 points and six assists, and the two Liberty newcomers, Emma Meesseman and Stephanie Talbot, also played their best games in New York uniforms.

Meesseman had 13 points and Talbot scored 11 off the bench.

Meanwhile, Paige Bueckers, the frontrunner for this season’s Rookie of the Year, led the Wings with 21 points and eight rebounds.

The Liberty improved to 19-10 on the season and remained second in the WNBA standings behind the Lynx.

Meanwhile, the Wings fell to 8-22 and are taking up residence in the league cellar along with the Sky and Sun.

The Liberty now get a much-needed two days off before traveling to Dallas to face the Wings for the final time this season Friday.