Liberty's Jonquel Jones scores 25 points in loss to struggling Chicago Sky

The race to climb the seeding chart for the WNBA postseason was looking airtight at the start of Thursday night.

Minnesota could look down comfortably from the top, but just a half game separated the next four teams — the Liberty, Atlanta, Phoenix and Las Vegas.

The Liberty have been hoping to get on a good forward roll heading into the playoffs and are hoping to get Breanna Stewart to join them out there soon. The defending champs are surely missing her in their search for consistency.

They were coming off a nice victory over the Lynx, and they were playing at Barclays Center against a Chicago team that was officially eliminated from playoff contention Wednesday night. They had soared past the Sky by 25 and 19 the first two times they played. But this meeting turned out to be an epic struggle for the Liberty.

Chicago ended up hanging a very bad loss on them, winning 91-85.

“We’ve got to be more consistent,” Jonquel Jones said. “We can’t come off [the] game I thought that we played against Minnesota and come against Chicago and look like a completely different team.

“… When we come out and play that way, it’s going to be hard to beat teams because teams are ready to play us.”

Jones hit five threes and scored 25 points. Sabrina Ionescu contributed 16, including career point No. 3,000 for the sixth-year pro. And Natasha Cloud had 14.

But the Liberty yielded 52 points in the paint and got crushed on the glass, 42-27.

Kamilla Cardoso was a 6-7 wrecking ball inside, delivering 22 points and 15 rebounds, including six on the offensive boards. Angel Reese, at 6-3, added 21 points and 10 rebounds.

“For rebounds, it’s been an issue all season that we get outrebounded,” Leonie Fiebich said.

So the Liberty lost their hold on the second seed that they covet.

“It’d be nice, but we have to control our destiny,” Liberty coach Sandy Brondello said.

They fell to 22-14. Or put another way, they’re 13-14 since their 9-0 start. The Sky rose to all of 9-26, snapping a five-game skid.

“They’re got some really big bigs,” Brondello said. “They’re aggressive. And they’ve got nothing to lose. They’re not in the playoffs. That’s easiest [way] to play. Just go out there and play hard.

“We didn’t come ready to play today, which is disappointing. Now it’s on us. We’ve got eight games to go. We’ve got to treat every game like a playoff.”

Stewart missed her 12th straight game after suffering a bone bruise in her right knee. The two-time MVP has been shooting for a return before her 31st birthday next Wednesday. Brondello ruled her out for Saturday’s game at Atlanta.

“She looks good,” Brondello said, “but we’ve just got to build her up.”

Ariel Atkins gave Chicago an 86-85 edge by hitting one of two free throws with 1:35 left. Jones followed with an off-target try for three.

Reese missed inside, but a jump ball resulted off the rebound. The Sky won it. Atkins was fouled and made both shots for a three-point lead.

Then Cloud missed inside. Reese grabbed the rebound, was fouled and hit two more free throws — 90-85, 36.1 seconds left.

Ionescu couldn’t connect on a three, and Reese made one of two at the line to clinch it.

“There’s a lot to be optimistic about moving forward,” Chicago coach Tyler Marsh had said before the game.

Courtney Vandersloot, the injured Sky point guard who was with the Liberty the previous two seasons, was presented with her massive 2024 championship ring prior to the opening tip.

Then she watched her old team lead by one after one quarter, by two after two and by three after three.

“We can’t show up for [Minnesota] and then not show up for Chicago,” Cloud said. “… We’re [ticked]. We let one slip.”