Sabrina Ionescu Reveals NY Liberty Coach’s Message to Her Before Game-Winner

Sabrina Ionescu hit arguably the shot of her life to lift the New York Liberty past the Minnesota Lynx in Game 3 of the WNBA Finals on Wednesday.

Ionescu drained a three-pointer near halfcourt with exactly one second left to give the Liberty the 80-77 win and take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-five series.

She was 2-of-7 from long distance before sinking the iconic game-winner.

While it was Breanna Stewart who carried the Liberty for the majority of the game, including scoring 22 of their 45 points in the second half, it was Ionescu who was tasked to come up with the biggest play.

“I had to go look at the video really quickly to see like how far I was,” said Ionescu in a report from the Associated Press. “I feel like I was able to get a little separation in range and get a really good shot to go.”

New York Liberty guard Sabrina Ionescu celebrates after Game 3 of the WNBA Finals.

Matt Krohn-Imagn Images

The Liberty guard also revealed what coach Sandy Brondello told her before her gutsy shot.

“In the timeout, Sandy was like, ‘You’re going to shoot the shot,'” said Ionescu.

She followed the order to a tee.

The 26-year-old former Oregon standout finished with 13 points, five rebounds and six assists. Stewart had a double-double outing of 30 points and 11 rebounds on top of four blocks.

New York overcame a four-point deficit with just a little over two minutes left in the final frame, en route to stealing Game 3 from Minnesota.

The Liberty have the chance to finally capture their first-ever crown in Game 4 on the road on Friday.