Liberty surrender 19-point lead, lose to Chicago

The first half generally had been the Liberty’s lesser half in the early going of this WNBA season.

They spoke about it, then did something about it in Sunday’s game against Chicago at Barclays Center, putting together mostly a fabulous first half.

Now, about the second half . . .

The Liberty coughed up a 19-point third-quarter lead and Kahleah Copper scored 20 of her 28 points after the intermission as the Sky took an 86-82 victory. Chicago earned a split of the home-and-home series and brought the Liberty’s four-game winning streak to a screeching halt.

“It shouldn’t happen,” coach Sandy Brondello said. “I just think we went away because we became complacent. This is a team that’s very dangerous . . . They lifted their intensity. We were still in the locker room even though we talked about ‘do not be complacent.’

“So it’s disappointing. Hopefully this is a wake-up. Some players need to wake up a little bit more. We went away from what worked for us. Our shot profile was terrible. We don’t find ways to get [Breanna Stewart] touches. We just didn’t play tough enough.”

The Liberty got 20 points and 11 rebounds from Stewart, her fifth double-double in six games. Courtney Vandersloot also had one against her former team with 18 points, 10 assists and eight rebounds.

But the Liberty fell to 4-2 after escaping Friday night’s game in Chicago with a 77-76 win.

This is an outstanding Liberty team on paper, but . . .

“There’s nothing great about our team right now,” Brondello said. “ . . . But sometimes these games are what need to happen.”

The Liberty led 67-56 early in the fourth quarter, then watched the Sky fly on by. Chicago went on an 18-3 run to take a 74-70 lead.

Vandersloot fed Stewart for two consecutive baskets in close to make it 76-all, but Courtney Williams hit a three-pointer to give Chicago the lead for good with 1:42 remaining.

Then it was 81-78, 29.4 seconds left, Liberty ball out of a timeout. But Sabrina Ionescu, who scored only four points, was quickly called for a moving screen. Marina Mabrey nailed five free throws from there for the Sky.

“I think we don’t want to be the team that only plays 20 minutes,” Vandersloot said.

Chicago (4-3) trailed 49-30 in the first minute of the third quarter. Coach James Wade called for time, and Copper went off for four three-pointers and 16 points in a 21-6 burst that slashed it to 55-51.

“He knows exactly what to do,” Copper said. “He called a quick timeout, got into us good. And then we came out and responded.”

The Liberty scored the first 13 points of the game, their second-best start in franchise history. The lead shrank to 18-15 by the end of the opening quarter before they took off again, going up 38-19. They carried a 47-30 lead into the locker room, but the margin soon shrank again.

“In the end,” Brondello said, “I think we just need to play with a little bit more pride.”