Sabrina Ionescu is known for her unique ability to score, assist and rebound — all at prolific rates. Last year, in her first full season in the WNBA, she averaged 6.1 assists (third in the league), 5.7 rebounds (20th in the league and second among guards), but also 11.7 points per game, which didn’t blow anyone away. Of course, that’s around what we expect from all-time great point guards Sue Bird (11.9 career scoring average) and Courtney Vandersloot (10.1), but we know Ionescu is capable of even more as a scorer. She is of course the only NCAAW Division I player to ever record 2,000 points, 1,000 assists and 1,000 rebounds in a career.
Ionescu’s scoring potential was on full display during her sophomore season’s opener on May 14, 2021. She dropped 25 points, including the game-winning three, which she dreamt about hitting the night before.
She went on to average 17.8 points through the first six games of the season and 14.8 over her final 12, including her one playoff game. It was the in-between stretch that dragged her average down.
Well, call her “Opening Day Sabrina” because she started off 2022 with the same point total she achieved in 2021’s opener and her New York Liberty needed every single bit of it to defeat the hyped-up, albeit incomplete, Connecticut Sun, 81-79, Saturday night at Barclays Center in Brooklyn.
Connecticut’s Alyssa Thomas, who missed almost all of last season with a torn Achilles, reminded us that she’s one of the best players in the league by also scoring 25 points and looking unstoppable at times. Both Ionescu and Thomas had their runs, but it was Ionescu who delivered the final blow with a 3-pointer at 3:01 remaining that gave the Liberty the lead for good and a layup immediately following that.
“I really take it more as a team battle than an individual battle,” Ionescu said when asked about winning the scorer’s duel with The Engine. “Super excited how we were able to figure out what worked for…
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