Indiana Fever defeats New York Liberty in WNBA overtime game
It would’ve been too perfect.
After missing the Indiana Fever’s first three three games of the season while playing in Turkey, Danielle Robinson made her season debut against the New York Liberty on Friday and nearly lifted the Fever to a walk-off win.
The score was tied with 6.4 seconds left in the fourth quarter when Robinson came up with a steal in the closing seconds and speeded down the court for a potential winning layup. The shot was too late and off target, but Robinson came alive in overtime to score eight of her 17 points and propel Indiana to a 92-86 victory.
Robinson drained a pull-up jumper, a 3-pointer and sank three free throws in the extra frame to snap the Fever’s 10-game losing streak in overtime contests. Friday’s win moved Indiana to 2-2 on the season. Last year, it took Indiana 18 games to notch its second win.
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The Fever used a dominant defensive third quarterback to limit the Liberty to seven points on 2-for-17 shooting and take a 58-48 lead. But the Liberty stormed all the way back behind a stellar performance from Sabrina Ionescu, who drained a deep 3 to tie the score at 76 with 14.4 seconds left.
Then Robinson took over and her teammates came with her.
Kelsey Mitchell scored five of her 24 points in overtime, and Victoria Vivians capped off a 20-point night with the game-sealing free throw that gave Indiana a four-point lead with 8.3 seconds left.
Rookie duo NaLyssa Smith and Queen Egbo had big nights as well. Egbo had eight points, 14 rebounds, four assists and two blocks. Smith added 12 points and 17 rebounds.
Ionescu finished her noteworthy outing with 31 points and seven assists as the Liberty fell to 1-2.