It’s time for another episode of the Locked on Women’s Basketball podcast. This episode features host Howard Megdal and The Next‘s New York Liberty beat reporter Jackie Powell. Han Xu comes through for New York Liberty and Tina Charles dominates for the Seattle Storm.
Jackie talks about the Liberty’s team effort win against the Chicago Sky on Saturday night’s game:
“Yes, I mean, it was not Han Xu who hit the game-winning shot and it wasn’t Han Xu who made the game-winning box out; those were from two different players and the shot coming from Sabrina Ionescu getting an and-one driving to the rim while Rebekah Gardner was guarding her. And that box out came from 2021 Rookie of the Year Michaela Onyenwere, who successfully defended Candace Parker on a post up and successfully boxed her out to get the rebound and then got fouled.”
Jackie breaks down why coach Sandy Brondello has been rotating nine players for the Liberty:
“Sandy has been open about how it’s been a struggle to figure out the Liberty’s rotations and with limited practice time. It is very difficult to work people back in as they come back from injury. And it takes experimentation. And she made the decision this game against Chicago. They couldn’t experiment against Connecticut. I thought Jocelyn Willoughby looked really good. And then something happened. Her confidence went down against Washington. And she just didn’t look the same. And you know what? She’s been out for two months. So we can’t just expect her to snap right into it.”
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For more of Jackies’ coverage of the New York Liberty, click here.
