– by Adesina O. Koiki
A Lot of Sports Talk editor-in-chief
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WASHINGTON — The New York Liberty made their first real misstep of the new season, but it had nothing to do with whether they lost or not, and rather, the actual bad step that one of their start players took on her way to giving the team a real scare.
Breanna Stewart scored 26 points and grabbed 11 rebounds as New York improved to 8-0 on the season with an 86-78 victory over the Washington Mystics inside CareFirst Arena on Thursday.
Sabrina Ionescu chipped in with 17 points despite her 3-for-17 shooting from the floor, while Kennedy Burke had 12 points and five rebounds off the bench. All of the Liberty had to step up when center Jonquel Jones suffered an apparent ankle injury in the first quarter and did not reutrn.
Jones rolled her ankle on the foot of Mystics rookie center Kiki Iriafen after coming down on a shot attempt. She She immediately fell to the court, clutching her ankle and remaining on the floor before the Liberty training staff came out and escorted her to the locker room.
Jones did not return to the game, and she finished with three points and four rebounds in six minutes.
Iriafen led the Mystics with 17 points and nine rebounds, while fellow rookie Sonia Citron had 13 points. Jade Melbourne scored 15 points off the bench, while Shakira Austin almost had a double-double as a reserve with nine points, 11 rebounds and four asssits.
*Editor’s note: Above the byline is the photo gallery from Thursday evening’s game, with photos taken by DC-area photographer Clifford Ray Williams. After clicking on a photo to enlarge the picture, press the left and right arrow buttons on either side of the caption to scroll through the rest of the pictures that appear on the first page, Also, click on the numbers and/or arrow appearing immediately below the picture grid to load the next set of photos. There are 19 pictures in total.
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