Betnijah Laney, Liberty dominate Indiana Fever in wire-to-wire victory

Betnijah Laney and the Liberty embarrassed the Indiana Fever while getting a 101-83 win at Barclays Center on Sunday. The Fever didn’t put up much of a fight in a game where they trailed by as much as 34 points.

Laney started the game off hot, getting aggressive on drives to the rim and scoring 12 points in the first quarter. Her hot start headlined a first period featuring 44 points from the Liberty, which is the most points scored in a quarter in WNBA history. She finished with 22 points of 9-of-13 shooting from the field.

“I was just a spectator after a while,” head coach Sandy Brondello said about the record-breaking quarter. “I’m like ‘OK this looks pretty good.”

Laney recorded a season-high in points and surpassed the 20-point mark for the first time since the 2021 postseason. She knocked down three treys while also getting to the paint and not settling for the first opportunity the Fever defense gave her. The veteran guard accredited her ability of “reading what the defense is giving,” which resulted in her game-high total.

“Just continuing to stay aggressive, continuing to stay confident in what it is I’m doing, and my teammates finding me. Moving forward, me continuing to doing that will ultimately help us get to our ultimate goal,” Laney said.

In the last game between the two teams, Aliyah Boston played a role in Jonquel Jones picking up three quick fouls before the second quarter ended. This time, Jones played a role in Boston being glued to the bench for most of the first half after the young star picked up three fouls in the first quarter.

One of those fouls was picked up on the offensive end, as Boston inadvertently elbowed Breanna Stewart in the face during the first quarter. The blow left Stewart on the floor with her mouth bloodied. Boston was assessed a flagrant 1 foul for the elbow. Stewart stayed in the game and shot her free throws afterwards.

Brondello said postgame she was unsure if Stewart received any treatment during halftime or after the game for the hard hit endured in the first half.

“She’s tough. She took a good hit,” the head coach said. “But she said she’s OK. So that’s what I’ll go by until I know otherwise.”

It was all downhill for the Fever after that. The Liberty started the game hitting their first eight shots. Jones started with five quick points and recorded another strong game after dominating the Mystics on Friday. She contained Boston, who finished with six points in 22 minutes. Jones scored 18 points and grabbed 11 boards.

The Fever looked defeated just a few minutes after tip-off. Then Marine Johannes added insult to injury.

The French sparkplug came off the bench in the first, made an Indiana defender look silly on a killer crossover and drained a three that electrified the crowd. She is getting back on track after struggling in a few games leading into the All-Star break. And her coach took notice.

“Very satisfying,” Brondello said about Johannes’ play on Sunday. “We want her to be who Marine is. She has that creativity to play free. She hasn’t necessarily done that a lot.

“We believe in her, we have a lot of confidence.”

Johannes had 12 points and three assists. The third-year guard surpassed 500 points for her career after Sunday’s performance.

The Liberty looked like a superteam Sunday against a squad looking to rebuild with their eventual Rookie of the Year winner. The home team shot 50% from the field while assisting on 29-of-37 made field goals. The Libs led the whole way and got a nice boost from the bench unit, which contributed 29 points in the game.

Kayla Thornton scored two three-pointers and contributed 10 points off the bench.

Brondello’s team shot 17-of-34 from downtown, one trey shy of the most three-pointers made in a game. The win against the Fever was the fourth time the Liberty scored at least 100 points in a game this season.

Fever guard Victoria Vivians finished with 16 points, five rebounds, four steals and three assists. All-Star Kelsey Mitchell scored 13 points on 4-of-12 shooting from the field.