Home|Sports|JJ scores eight in Liberty’s winSports

Simba FrenchSend an emailJuly 4, 2023 42 2 minute readFacebookTwitterLinkedInShare via Email

Bahamian professional basketball player Jonquel “JJ” Jones scored eight points as she helped her New York Liberty with a 81-66 road win over the Seattle Storm, at the Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle, Washington on Sunday.

Jones shot 4-for-6 to go 66.7 percent from the field in 23 minutes in the floor. She also had two rebounds, two steals and two blocks.

The center was coming off a 13-point effort against the defending WNBA champions, the Las Vegas Aces on Thursday.

The win on Sunday was their fifth win in six games and has them sporting an 11-4 win/loss record on the season to sit in second place in the league. The Aces lead the league with a 15-1 record.

Sunday saw Liberty taking advantage early, opening the game on a 13-3 run for the first five minutes. They ended that quarter leading 26-14 to set the tone, as they never trailed in the game.

Liberty played some strong defense as they held the Storm to just 27 points in the first half. It was the lowest first half point total that they held a team to this season. Liberty led 44-27 at that point.

Jones struggled in the first half, coming away with just two points on 1-for-3 shooting. The Grand Bahama native was able to go a perfect 3-for-3 to score six points in that half.

Breanna Stewart led the way for the Liberty against her former team with 20 points. Jewell Loyd finished with a game-high 27 points in the loss for the Storm.

It was a strong shooting night for Liberty, who shot 46.5 percent from the field, while Storm shot 35.4 percent. They even distributed the ball as the came away with 30 assists on 33 made field goals.

Defensively, the Liberty was on fire as they recorded a season-high 16 steals and had 19 points off turnovers.

It has been a slow start for the 2021 Most Valuable Player by her standards, as she is averaging 10.1 points and 6.3 rebounds per game. It has been an inconsistent season for her in scoring as she scored eight, 13, 14, zero and 18 points in her last five outings with four being wins for her team. It’s almost mid-way in the season so she has time to pick up her play.

The WNBA just named their 2023 All-Star players and Jones was not on that list. She was named to the All-Star team in her last three seasons (2019, 2021 and 2022). There is no doubt that her goal is to do whatever it takes to help her team to win a championship title.

Next up for Liberty is a matchup against the Phoenix Mercury tomorrow, in a home clash at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. Tip off time is 7 p.m.