New York Liberty at Washington Mystics

Ionescu scores 28, Jones has 14 points and 18 rebounds as unbeaten Liberty beat Mystics 85-63

The defending WNBA champion Liberty (6-0) are off to the best start in franchise history.

Brittney Sykes hit two free throws to cut Washington’s deficit to four about three minutes into the second half but Ionescu was fouled as she hit a runner and made the free throw 12 seconds later to spark a 16-0 run that made it 63-43 with 1:54 left in the third quarter.

Sykes led Washington with 20 points. Kiki Iriafen scored 12 and Sonia Citron 10.

The Mystics had scoring droughts of six-plus minutes in the third quarter and four-plus minutes in the fourth. Washington shot 28% (21 of 74) from the field, 4 of 16 from 3-point range.

The Liberty beat Golden State 82-77 on Thursday in the first of three games in four days.

Citron hit a 3 about 90 seconds into the game that gave Washington a 5-3 lead but Leonie Fiebich answered with a 3-pointer 16 seconds later and the Liberty led the rest of the way. The Mystics went scoreless for three-plus minutes as New York used an 8-0 run to make it 19-10 with about three minutes left in the first quarter. Ionescu scored to stretch the Liberty’s lead to 14 with almost four minutes remaining in the second.

Ionescu had 14 points and Leonie Fiebich hit two 3-pointers and scored 12 points on 4-of-4 shooting to help the Liberty take a 44-32 lead into halftime.

New York is 26-0 in games which Jones has a double-double.

Up next The Liberty return home to take on Connecticut on Sunday. The Mystics play Tuesday at Indiana.

Regular Season Series

NY wins series 4-0