The Liberty talked this week about how good the vibes were with the team despite losing five of their past seven games.
But there was a moment Thursday night when a sliver of panic likely started to rear its ugly head.
The Liberty were down by double digits with under seven minutes left in the third quarter, and they looked all out of sorts up.
Shots weren’t falling.
Defensive miscues were happening.
The lowly Sparks looked comfortable.
Then, the Liberty flipped the switch and took off like a Formula 1 car.
The defending champion used a third-quarter surge to beat the Sparks, 89-79.
The Liberty ripped off a 27-6 run to turn an 11-point deficit into a 10-point lead by the fourth quarter.
The Liberty never allowed the Sparks back in.
In the third period, Natasha Cloud and Sabrina Ionescu delivered impressive performances, scoring 11 and 10 points each. The Liberty matched their season high for points in a quarter with 32, thanks to shooting 63 percent from the field and 71.4 percent from beyond the arc.
Cloud finished with a season-high 23 points and three 3-pointers.
She also had seven assists and four rebounds.
Breanna Stewart achieved her third double-double of the season, contributing 17 points and 14 rebounds. Ionescu also stood out with 20 points, alongside six assists and six rebounds, helping the Liberty boost their record to 12-5.
The outcome was favorable for the Liberty, yet it doesn’t fully offset their overall performance throughout the game. As a team aiming for consecutive championships, they need to maintain a high level of play as they approach the season’s midway mark.
Thursday’s game was a chance for the Liberty to be the bullies. Leonie Fiebich was back. Ionescu said the kink in her neck was gone.
More than 17,000 fans packed into Barclays Center to root for them. And the game was against the flailing Sparks, who are 11th in the league standings.
Finding that extra gear to close out the game in such a dominant fashion helped alleviate some worry.
Nevertheless, the Liberty can’t keep allowing opponents to build up leads and get comfortable, because the shots aren’t always going to fall the way they did on both sides of the floor toward the end Thursday.
The Liberty are at home for most of this month. This is the time to get their season back on track.
The way they closed out the Sparks was a good start. But they need to play better for the full 40 minutes.
The Liberty return to action Sunday against the Storm.
