Sabrina Ionescus brutal personal showing not ruining her storybook ending

Sabrina Ionescu didn’t exactly have an ideal college ending or start to her WNBA career.Nor was it her dream to shoot a brutal 1-for-19 in the clinching Game 5 of her first WNBA Finals.Yet despite it all, Ionescu proclaimed Sunday night to be a “storybook ending” after the Liberty beat the Lynx in overtime, 67-62, to win their first championship and break the city of New York’s 51-year basketball championship drought.It goes down as Ionescu’s first championship in her career, including college.“I feel like I was envisioning what I was going to do if we would have won for like a long period of time,” Ionescu said after the win.“I don’t think until you get in that moment do you realize, like you’re kinda in shock.

… That was just in that moment like we did it here in New York.We just won in overtime and just kind of this breath of fresh air.”A year ago, Ionescu may have been more upset with her poor performances in the last two games of this year’s WNBA Finals against the Lynx, scoring a combined 15 points just after having the shot of the year — a 28-footer to win Game 3 in the final seconds.A title certainly changes the mood, but a maturity has shown in the guard this past season and it didn’t seem to bother Ionescu that she didn’t contribute largely in what was the biggest moment of her career.Rather, she had a bigger picture than just the stat sheet.To wait five seasons for a first WNBA championship title is probably what some would consider a luxury.

Liberty teammate and 2024 WNBA Finals MVP Jonquel Jones, who waited nine years and four finals appearances for it, knows that all too well.However, the 26-year-old former Oregon star graduated in 2020 and had her senior season and chance to compete for an NCAA title taken away by the COVID-19 pandemic.She helped Oregon make it as far as a national semifinal appearance in her junior year.The Walnut Creek, Calif., native then went on to be the No.

1 overall pick to the Liberty in the ...