Liberty finally get some time at free throw line

It was the elephant in the room.

Not the one shaking her trunk and backing that thing up.

No, the whistle the Liberty would get, back on their home floor for a rematch against the Lynx, following Saturday’s combative loss in which Minnesota attempted 33 free throws to the Liberty’s eight.

“It’s a new game. It’s like a playoff game,” Liberty head coach Sandy Brondello said before Tuesday night’s 85-75 win, while also confirming the team had submitted footage from Saturday to the league office. “I don’t know, home-court advantage, maybe, tonight?”

It was apparent it would be a differently officiated ballgame as Jonquel Jones headed to the line with 5:32 left in the second quarter, the Lynx having been called for their fifth foul of the frame.

“Team is over the limit,” the PA announced as the Barclays Center crowd, here for a good time, but ball-knowers from the floor to the rafters let out a roar.

The Liberty finished with 18 free-throw attempts on 16 Lynx personal fouls.

The Lynx shot 14 free throws on 10 Liberty fouls.

Lynx head coach Cheryl Reeve had an empathetic take on Courtney Williams continuing to stoke the Liberty rivalry with her trash talk.

“Her feelings are real, and they should be,” Reeve said. “This is personal, for her in particular. In terms of, you look at Game 5 for a lot of reasons, and for her in particular, it wasn’t her best game. And she has carried that with her, and I think that’s what’s coming out.”

Williams scored four points on 2-for-14 shooting and had five turnovers in last fall’s WNBA Finals decider.

The 31-year-old point guard had 17 points on Tuesday night, but the Lynx were outscored by 19 points in her 32 minutes.

Sabrina Ionescu moved into third place on the Liberty all-time scoring list, passing Cappie Pondexter.

Ionescu (2,986 points in 177 games) trails only Tina Charles (3,739 points) and Vickie Johnson (3,248).