New York vs Connecticut   Results, Match Player Stats & Records

This is the first of a two-game set in Connecticut between the defending WNBA champion Liberty (17-9) and the Sun (4-21), with the second contest on Sunday afternoon.

The short-handed Liberty are coming off a 100-93 loss at the Minnesota Lynx on Wednesday. All-Star guard Sabrina Ionescu scored 31 points along with five rebounds and four assists in the loss.

Two-time Most Valuable Player Breanna Stewart (right knee bone bruise) is out indefinitely. Nyara Sabally (knee) and Kennedy Burke (calf) also didn't play. Natasha Cloud battled through sickness.

Ionescu lauded the Liberty's effort in the narrow defeat.

"If there's ever a good loss, this was one of those losses that you can live with," Ionescu said via the New York Post. "Everyone played as hard as they could. Natasha was sick and played through it. Just really proud of the way we were able to fight back and that's the standard."

Help appears to be on the way for the Liberty, who signed forward Emma Meesseman to a contract on Friday morning.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed for Meesseman, who will debut Friday night.

Meesseman, 32, is two-time All-Star and the 2019 WNBA Finals MVP. The 6-foot-4 forward last played in the WNBA in 2022 for the Chicago Sky, averaging 12.4 points, 5.6 rebounds and 3.8 assists in 36 starts.

The explosive Liberty are first in the league in points (87.9) and 3-pointers (10.0) per game.

Meanwhile, the Sun have the worst record in the WNBA and have dropped five of the last six games, most recently a 101-85 loss to the visiting Seattle Storm on Monday.

Bria Hartley led the Sun with 17 points and four assists. Tina Charles, in her 14th season, surpassed 1,000 assists in her career in the loss. According to the Sun, she's the lone player in league history with at least 8,000 points, 4,000 rebounds and 1,000 assists.

After routing the expansion Golden State Valkyries 95-64 on Sunday, the Sun had a chance for their first winning streak of the season. Instead, Seattle shot 60.9 percent from the field (42 of 69) and made nine 3-pointers in 20 attempts (45 percent) to burn Connecticut.

"I know we played (a back-to-back) but that's not an excuse," Sun rookie forward Aneesah Morrow said via CT Insider. "We have to show up every day and defend. We have to be intentional about our defense."

In the first meeting this season, the host Liberty cruised to a 100-52 victory over the Sun on June 1. Ionescu paced New York with 18 points and Charles had 10 points for Connecticut.

--Field Level Media