BROOKLYN—It was anything but a lazy Sunday for the New York Liberty when they closed the weekend against the Connecticut Sun at Barclays Center.
New York put up a blowout of epic proportions against the Connecticut Sun in Brooklyn, earning a 100-52 victory to open Commissioner’s Cup pool play on a sterling note.
Sabrina Ionescu led the way with 18 points while her four fellow starters all posted plus/minuses of at least 40 while scroing 13 points each. Natasha Cloud and Breanna Stewart were at plus-44 each to share a new Liberty record while Jonquel Jones had 13 points and 10 rebounds, improving the Liberty’s record to 27-0 when she posts a double-double.
Brandon Todd, NY Liberty
Becoming the first team in WNBA history to have a game with four players posting at least a plus-40 (and one of three teams overall to have more than in a single game) was but one bit of history that the Liberty (7-0) established on Sunday afternoon.
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New York became the first WNBA team to have 10 different women sink at least at least one three-pointer in a regular season game (matching the overall record they set last postseason in the second-round) and it tied its own record with 19 three-pointers in a single game, previously posting that tally on May 22 in Chicago. The 59.3 percent success rate from is third-best in a single game with a minimum of 30 attempts.
The 48-point margin of victory was also the Liberty’s largest and second-best in WNBA history.
Furthermore, the Liberty have won each of their first seven games on the ledger for the first time since their inaugural season back in 1997. Perhaps the one record that wasn’t set was the Liberty’s all-time leader in successful three-pointers, thought Ionescu moved to within two triples of breaking Crystal Robinson’s long-standing record.
Elsewhere in individual accomplishments, Jones passed Teresa Weatherspoon for the eighth-most rebounds on the franchise ledgers. Marine Johannes posted her second game with a plus/minus of at least 22 this season, becoming just the seventh New Yorker to earn multiple such games off the bench.
The Liberty wasted no time establishing its dominance in the early going, rendering an early Connecticut challenge long-forgotten with a 10-0 run to close the first period. Leonie Fiebich scored half of the first 16 points and the Liberty registered assists on each of their first 19 sinks from the field. The advantage was up to 60-28 by halftime, satisfying an already jovial weekend crowd celebrating the birthday of the team’s elephant mascot Ellie.
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Brandon Todd, NY Liberty
Any bit of drama left appeared in the third period, when Ionescu was charged with a foul on Marina Mabrey in the third quarter. An animated Ionescu insisted that she was not responsible, using her shifted ponytail to make a case for head coach Sandy Brondello to challenge. When the replay monitor vindicated her, Ionescu joyfully interrupted an Ellie performance and high-fived anyone she could on the Liberty bench before taking her leave for the rest of the afternoon.
Jacy Sheldon and former Liberty star Tina Charles, still the team’s all-time scoring leader, had 10 points each for the rebuilding Sun (1-6), who returned to the loss column after earning an upset win over Caitlin Clark-less Indiana. It was a brutal day for Liberty nemesis Mabrey, who was 2-of-11 from the field and a WNBA all-time worst minus-55 in 28 minutes. Prior to tip-off, the Liberty honored Sun associate head coach Roneeka Hodges, who was presented with her championship ring earned as an assistant coach in New York last season.
New York and Connecticut will do battle again in a back-to-back in Uncasville at the start of August. In the meantime, the Liberty are back in action on Thursday night when they face the Washington Mystics on the road (7:30 p.m. ET, WNYW).
Make sure you bookmark Liberty on SI for the latest news, exclusive interviews, film breakdowns as and so much more!
As of early 2025, the Connecticut State Police was facing a staffing shortage of roughly 300 troopers compared to the more than 1,200 troopers the department had in its ranks over a decade ago. This is due largely to retirements, resignations and a shrinking applicant pool.
Recent academy classes are helping slowly rebuild staffing, but Gov. Ned Lamont and police leadership say Connecticut still needs substantially more troopers to meet public safety demands. More recently, news outlets reported the department had 938 troopers.
This spring, troopers negotiated a 4.5% wage hike with state officials. Troopers’ base pay is on average about $116,000 per year, but that rises to $175,000 per year once overtime is included.
This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.
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CT Mirror partners with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims.
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Reginald David is the Community Engagement Reporter for CT Mirror. He builds relationships across Connecticut to elevate community voices and deepen public dialogue around local issues. Previously, he was a producer at KCUR 89.3, Kansas City’s NPR station, where he created community-centered programming, led live event coverage for major events like the NFL Draft, the Kansas City Chiefs Super Bowl Parade, and Royals Opening Day, and launched KC Soundcheck, a music series spotlighting local and national artists. Reginald has also hosted special segments, including an in-depth interview with civil rights leader Alvin Brooks and live community coverage on issues like racial segregation and neighborhood development. He began his public media career as an ‘Integrity in News’ intern at WNPR in Hartford.
Meteorologists are predicting the next storm system in Connecticut could bring a couple inches of snow this weekend.
WTNH reports snow will start late Saturday night and continue into Sunday morning.
“There is pretty good agreement with light snow amounts statewide with up to around 2″ expected,” WTNH says.
Find out what’s happening in Across Connecticutfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
WFSB reports long-range models have been “all over the place with the development of a coastal storm.”
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According to WFSB, some show the system moving to the south of Connecticut, which would make the impact on weekend plans “minimal.” Another model, however, shows a greater impact on Connecticut, which could mean a “coating to an inch” of snow, WFSB reports.
Find out what’s happening in Across Connecticutfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
WFSB as of Thursday also predicts the timing would be late Saturday night through Sunday morning.
The National Weather Service as of Thursday has increased the odds of snow in this weekend timeframe to 50 percent, up from 30 percent.
In the short term, it is going to be very windy today.
The National Weather Service has advisories for northern and southern parts of Connecticut due to high winds, with possible gusts of up to 50 miles per hour.
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Today, Friday and daytime Saturday will be clear and dry, according to the National Weather Service, with high temperatures starting in the low to mid-30s and gradually warming.
“Saturday is the pick of the weekend, as it will be dry and relatively milder,” WFSB reports. “While we could start bright, cloud cover will be on the increase with temps that peak between 35 and 40. Sunday will be colder as temps only reach the upper 20s and lower 30s.”
The National Weather Service indicates the chance for snow begins around midnight Saturday.
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Here are the forecast details for northern Connecticut via the National Weather Service:
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Today: Partly sunny, with a high near 31. Breezy, with a west wind 18 to 21 mph, with gusts as high as 43 mph.
Tonight: Partly cloudy, with a low around 20. West wind 14 to 16 mph, with gusts as high as 43 mph.
Friday: Sunny, with a high near 32. West wind 13 to 16 mph, with gusts as high as 31 mph.
Friday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 16. West wind 5 to 10 mph becoming light southwest in the evening.
Saturday: Partly sunny, with a high near 36. Calm wind becoming southwest 5 to 8 mph in the morning.
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Saturday Night: A chance of snow, mainly after midnight. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 23. Southwest wind around 5 mph becoming west after midnight. Chance of precipitation is 50%. New snow accumulation of less than a half inch possible.
Sunday: A chance of snow before 1 p.m. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 29. Northwest wind 5 to 11 mph, with gusts as high as 24 mph. Chance of precipitation is 50%.
Here are the forecast details for southern Connecticut via the National Weather Service:
Today: Mostly sunny, with a high near 34. Wind chill values between 20 and 25. West wind 16 to 18 mph, with gusts as high as 43 mph.
Tonight: Mostly clear, with a low around 22. Wind chill values between 10 and 15. West wind 14 to 16 mph, with gusts as high as 41 mph.
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Friday: Sunny, with a high near 34. Wind chill values between 10 and 20. West wind 11 to 14 mph, with gusts as high as 24 mph.
Friday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 22. West wind around 6 mph becoming calm after midnight.
Saturday: Partly sunny, with a high near 39. Light west wind becoming southwest 5 to 10 mph in the morning.
Saturday Night: Snow likely after 1 a.m. Cloudy, with a low around 26. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New snow accumulation of less than a half inch possible.
Sunday: A 50 percent chance of snow before 1 p.m. Cloudy, then gradually becoming mostly sunny, with a high near 33.
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NEW BRITAIN, Conn. (WTNH) — An emergency room doctor at the Hospital of Central Connecticut in New Britain just returned to Connecticut after running seven marathons in seven days on seven continents — including Antarctica.
Dr. Lisa Bienia Kenton just finished running 183.4 miles in seven days to raise money for her niece and nephew who have a chromosomal disorder. Covering that much ground in just a week doesn’t allow for much time to sleep.
“We average about three hours a night,” Dr. Bienia Kenton said. “So, 21 hours we slept total for the seven days.”
It’s called the Great World Race. 60 runners started in Antarctica, then South Africa, then Australia, then the United Arab Emirates, then Portugal, then Colombia and finished in Miami.
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“In Antarctica, it was -30°C with a 30 mile an hour wind chill,” Dr. Bienia Kenton said. “So that was by far the most grueling and kind of gnarly things we experienced. Like, sometimes you don’t even know if you’re moving forward.”
Dr. Bienia Kenton is part of an elite group of female runners — only 166 have run a marathon on every continent and only a fraction of them have done it in seven days.
“I met a lot of great, strong women,” Dr. Bienia Kenton said. “A lot of moms, same demographic as me, and we kind of just powered each other through.”
She had support from her husband and sons, who encouraged her to do the race. She trained by running to her son’s baseball games and around the field before returning home. She said her husband got her time off work to run the race after talking to her boss, who met her in Miami and ran the last marathon with her.
She said the experience of running the Great World Race left her body bruised, but it changed her life.
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“I left there with this life, inner self or inner feeling of confidence, like I can tackle the world,” she said. “And maybe that’s going to wear off over time, but right now I’m riding that high.”
