Sabrina Ionescu, Sami Whitcomb stage rally but Liberty lose to Aces

Sabrina Ionescu was doing all in her power to will the Liberty back in the fourth quarter. But after trailing the Aces by 24 points at halftime, it was going to take a miracle.

Ionescu nearly delivered that miracle with 21 points in the fourth quarter, but the Liberty fell to the Las Vegas Aces, 107-101, at the Barclays Center Tuesday evening.

Ionescu finished with 27 points on 9-for-17 shooting, including 4 of 9 from deep, with three rebounds and five assists. She scored 12 points over the final 48.8 seconds, including shooting 3-for-3 from beyond the arc and completing a three-point play.

“She was on fire, 21 points, that was amazing, but she was a little passive [early],” coach Sandy Brondello said.

“They were trapping her from the start, we were missing a lot of shots. That’s the problem. We need others to make shots earlier to take a little pressure off of her.”

Ionescu was held to six points in the first three quarters. But as the Liberty began making more defensive stops and generating efficient offense later in the contest, that opened up the floor for her to shoot from deep.

“They were trapping so the fact that we were able to get [defensive] stops and get the ball in transition allowed them to not trap as much,” Ionescu said.

“I tried to do everything I could, obviously it was not enough.”

The Liberty (9-14) trailed, 52-28, at halftime after the Aces (16-7) jumped out to a 30-16 lead after the first quarter.

“This team is too good, we were terrible,” Brondello said. “We didn’t come ready to play . . . The mindset wasn’t where it needed to be.

“We had no fight, we didn’t compete, we didn’t make shots. We didn’t play defense either.”

But the Liberty came out stronger in the second half, outscoring the Aces, 35-19, in the third quarter to cut their lead to 71-63 entering the fourth. The Liberty ended the quarter on a 20-6 run.

“I’m proud of the second half team, that’s a team I enjoy coaching,” Brondello said. “That first half team, we can’t do that. Not against these great teams, not against any team because we’ll lose against everybody.”

Sami Whitcomb was pivotal in the third quarter. After being held without a shot in the first half, the guard shot 5-for-6 from beyond the arc in the third quarter for 15 points in the period.

She finished with 17 points and Natasha Howard had 20 points and 11 rebounds, including 17 points in the second half.

Kelsey Plum had 27 points for the Aces, which shot 34 of 35 from the free-throw line as a team. A’ja Wilson added 23 points with 14 rebounds and Jackie Young also scored 23.

The Liberty scored 73 points in the second half after just 28 in the opening 20 minutes.

“Hats off to us, it shows what we are capable of doing but we can’t start games that way because it’s not enough,” Ionescu said.

“If we played the first half the way we played the second half, we’re winning this game by a lot. So it shows what we are capable of and what we need to do but it wasn’t enough tonight.”