New York Liberty guard Sabrina Ionescu was feeling the pressure during Game 4 of the WNBA Finals on Wednesday night.
After hitting a massive 3-pointer less than halfway through the fourth quarter with the Liberty trailing the Las Vegas Aces, the former Oregon standout hurried over to the sideline and vomited into a trash can.
At the time, New York was on the brink of losing the championship to the Aces, who had taken a 2-1 lead in the Finals.
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The incident didn’t appear to be cause for concern, however. According to ESPN sideline reporter Andraya Carter, Ionescu revealed that she battles through nerves before stepping on court.
“You talk about nerves in a Finals moment, Sabrina Ionescu who just hit a big 3 and came over to the sideline and lost the contents of her stomach, she told me that she gets nervous before games but she went right back out, wiped off her chin and kept on playing.”
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New York suffered blowout losses to the Aces in Games 1 and 2, losing 99-82 in the opening game of the championship and 104-76 the next. On the brink of elimination, the Liberty pulled off an 87-73 win on Sunday night to force a Game 4.
After leading in the first half of Wednesday night’s game, New York allowed the Aces room to climb back. With the game tied at 64, Las Vegas scored six straight points, including the first four by Jackie Young, to go ahead 70-64 with 1:26 left.
In a heartbreaking finish for the Liberty, Courtney Vandersloot’s missed 3-pointer handed the Aces a 70-69 victory to become repeat champions.
“It’s tough. It’s tough to win a fourth,” New York head coach Sandy Brondello said after the game. “It would’ve been nice to go and play Game 5 and then lay it all out on the table.”
“You know, we fought but it wasn’t our best game today. It’ll be a hard one to learn from, but in the end I’m proud of this group, of what we accomplished, and how we’ve come together as a totally new group and trying to build the chemistry and the togetherness and they committed to what we wanted to do. We’ve got to take it as a learning experience now and as we move forward remember how it feels and use it as motivation.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
