WASHINGTON \u2014 Despite losing Jonquel Jones with an injury early, the reigning champion Liberty remained undefeated Thursday as they beat the Mystics 86-78.<\/p>\n
The Liberty improved to 8-0 on the season \u2014 the best start in franchise history. <\/p>\n
But this is only the beginning.<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously, 8-0 is great, but that\u2019s not what our goal is,\u201d Sabrina Ionescu said. \u201c[We\u2019re] going to take every single game and take it one by one and continue to try to get better.\u201d<\/p>\n
Breanna Stewart had 26 points and 11 rebounds, and Kennedy Burke remained a force off the bench, adding 12 points after going 4-for-4 from deep.<\/p>\n
Breanna Stewart, who scored a game-high 26 points, shoots a jumper over Kiki Iriafen during the Liberty\u2019s 86-78 win over the Mystics on June 5, 2025. Geoff Burke-Imagn Images<\/p>\n
Ionescu also added a few more accomplishments to her impressive r\u00e9sum\u00e9. <\/p>\n
Her pair of 3s increased her career total of 3-pointers made to 401.<\/p>\n
Not only did Ionescu surpass Crystal Robinson for the Liberty\u2019s all-time record, but she also became the fastest player to eclipse 400 triples in league history, needing just 151 games to do so.<\/p>\n
The Liberty won despite Jones leaving in the first quarter with a right ankle injury. <\/p>\n
She appeared to roll her right ankle on a layup. <\/p>\n
Jonquel Jones is tended to by a team trainer after injuring her right ankle in the Liberty\u2019s win over the Mystics. She did not return to the game. Geoff Burke-Imagn Images<\/p>\n
She collapsed to the floor, where she laid in agony while the game continued on the opposite side of the floor.<\/p>\n
When play stopped at the 2:56 mark, her teammates and several Liberty staffers swarmed her. <\/p>\n
It was clear that Jones was in pain. <\/p>\n
She ultimately was assisted off the floor and went back to the locker room for further assessment.<\/p>\n
For the first time since the season opener, the Liberty were down at the end of the first quarter. <\/p>\n
Sabrina Ionescu, who scored 13 points, dribbles up court during the Liberty\u2019s win over the Mystics. BAE via Getty Images<\/p>\n
But the Mystics\u2019 five-point lead didn\u2019t last long.<\/p>\n
Without Jones, the Liberty outscored the Mystics 32-12 in the second quarter and led by 15 at the break.<\/p>\n
The Mystics, led by Kiki Iriafen and Sonia Citron, never allowed the Liberty to get too comfortable. <\/p>\n
They trimmed a 16-point deficit to four with less than a minute to go in the fourth.<\/p>\n
But Stewart went 3-for-4 from the free throw line in the final minute to secure the win.<\/p>\n
Washington star Kiki Iriafen, who scored a team-high 17 points, shoots over Breanna Stewart during the Liberty\u2019s win over the Mystics. NBAE via Getty Images<\/p>\n
As excited as the Liberty were with the win, concern for Jones lingered in the depths of CareFirst Arena.<\/p>\n
Coach Sandy Brondello said Jones tried to return at halftime but was still in pain.<\/p>\n
\u201cLet\u2019s hope that it\u2019s not too bad that it\u2019ll keep her out,\u201d Brondello said.<\/p>\n
Whether Jones will be sidelined beyond Thursday is unclear. <\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCovering the Liberty like never before\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSign up for Madeline Kenney’s Inside the Liberty, a weekly Sports+ newsletter.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\tThank you\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
An update is expected by Sunday.<\/p>\n
The Liberty return to action Tuesday when they host the Sky at Barclays Center.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WASHINGTON \u2014 Despite losing Jonquel Jones with an injury early, the reigning champion Liberty remained undefeated Thursday as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":81245,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3724],"tags":[7,5441,3801,6209,66,4518,458],"class_list":{"0":"post-81244","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-basketball","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-breanna-stewart","10":"tag-new-york-liberty","11":"tag-sabrina-ionescu","12":"tag-sports","13":"tag-washington-mystics","14":"tag-wnba"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/114637622732481554","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81244","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=81244"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81244\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/81245"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=81244"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=81244"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=81244"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}