Liberty waste Sabrina Ionescu's stellar play with loss to Lynx

Just when it seemed as if the Liberty had made a U-turn and were headed in the right direction, they hung another U-turn and took off the wrong way again. 

They had won two straight after a seven-game skid and had struggling Minnesota in on Sunday for the start of a two-game series at Barclays Center.

But after nearly climbing all the way out of a 19-point hole, the Liberty fell back down and took an 84-77 loss.

“Disappointing, definitely, because they wanted it more,” coach Sandy Brondello said after the Liberty dropped to 3-8 and the Lynx improved to 3-8.

Beyond that, the Liberty couldn’t shoot straight on threes, hitting just 13.3% — 4-for-30.

“We got open shots and we just missed them,” Brondello said. “It’s a recurring thing. We’ve got great shooters. We’ve got to start making shots and maybe the result is way different here.”

Sabrina Ionescu continued her terrific play of late for the Liberty, contributing 31 points, seven assists, five rebounds and three steals. 

Natasha Howard added 20 points. So the Liberty got 51 from two players. Seven others combined for 26 points.

“We need other players stepping up,” Brondello said.

Minnesota led 46-37 at halftime, 70-51 late in the third and 74-57 early in the fourth. 

The Liberty went to a zone and took off on a 16-0 run to make it 74-73 with 3:59 left. 

But Aerial Powers, who hurt the Liberty with 27 points, countered with two free throws and a jumper, making it a five-point lead.

“It was the Aerial Powers show,” Brondello said.

Ionescu buried a jumper, cutting it to 78-75. That was as close as it got.

“We’ve just got to keep building, figuring out what we need to do better,” Ionescu said. “We can’t have a team come in on our home court and punch first.”