After spending the last few weeks as teammates en route to a tight 67-66 gold medal victory over Team France, six of the biggest talents in women’s basketball met in a matchup between two of the WNBA’s best teams on Saturday.
The New York Liberty, led by Team USA stars Breanna Stewart and Sabrina Ionescu, punched their ticket to the playoffs by eliminating four of their former Olympic teammates on the Las Vegas Aces — All-WNBA center A’ja Wilson, as well as All-Star guards Jackie Young, Chelsea Gray and Kelsey Plum — in a 79-67 road victory.
Learn more: USA women’s basketball team avoids disaster, holds off France to win gold medal
The Aces actually started the game stronger than the Liberty, outscoring New York 28-24 in the first quarter. But an 18-8 response put New York ahead at halftime, 42-36, and New York continued to assert itself in the second half.
Candice Ward/Getty Images
Offensively, Ionescu led New York in scoring. The 6-foot-1 guard scored 23 points on 9-of-21 shooting (3-of-10 from long range) and 2-of-2 from the free throw line, while grabbing six rebounds, dishing out three assists and picking up a steal. Stewart scored 18 points on 7-of-16 shooting, with seven rebounds, two blocks, two steals and an assist. 6-foot-6 center Jonquel Jones had a double-double of 10 points and 17 rebounds, while dishing out seven assists.
The Liberty and Aces are two of the most loaded teams in the league. Stewart, a 6-foot-4 power forward for the Liberty out of UConn, is the reigning league MVP. Jones, the 2021 MVP, and two-time All-WNBA forward Ionescu, who is just 26, were all named to the All-Star team this season. Five-time All-Star point guard Courtney Vandersloot, another likely Hall of Famer, is also on the Liberty.
All four of Team USA’s Aces have also been selected for the 2024 WNBA All-Star Game. Wilson, like Stewart, is a two-time champion and two-time league MVP. The two powerhouses are co-favorites for the honor again this season and could very likely face off in the 2024 Finals, as they did in 2023.
Wilson scored a game-high 24 points on 8-of-15 shooting while grabbing a game-high 11 rebounds, blocking three shots and stealing three more.
The Liberty had the advantage in shooting (40.5% to 36.9%) and rebounding (46-30). Four New York players scored in double figures, compared to just three for Las Vegas.
By beating Las Vegas today and improving to a league-best 23-4, the Liberty became the first WNBA team to clinch a playoff spot, according to ESPN. The Aces, meanwhile, fell to a still-respectable 16-9 (8-6 at home). Last year, the Liberty went 32-8, the franchise’s best record at the time. This year’s iteration has a chance to surpass that total.
Last year, the Aces went a near-impossible 34-6. That result is obviously no longer relevant in 2024, but Gray missed much of the early part of the season, which has negatively impacted Las Vegas’ start to the season. The Aces are hoping to win a third straight championship this year, but the Liberty have emerged as the team most likely to end such a dominant streak. They proved once again Saturday that they are more than capable of meeting that challenge.
