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Sabrina Ionescu Struggles To Find Her Shot In WNBA Debut

By Justin Phillips

LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - MARCH 08: Sabrina Ionescu #20 of the Oregon Ducks high-fives teammates on the bench after coming out of the game late in the team's 89-56 victory over the Stanford Cardinal during the championship game of the Pac-12 Conference women's basketball tournament at the Mandalay Bay Events Center on March 8, 2020 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Ducks defeated the Cardinal 89-56. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - MARCH 08: Sabrina Ionescu #20 of the Oregon Ducks high-fives teammates on the bench after coming out of the game late in the team's 89-56 victory over the Stanford Cardinal during the championship game of the Pac-12 Conference women's basketball tournament at the Mandalay Bay Events Center on March 8, 2020 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Ducks defeated the Cardinal 89-56. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images) /
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While Sabrina Ionescu rarely had an off night with the Oregon Ducks, she struggled at times in her first game for the New York Liberty against the defending champion Seattle Storm.

It took a few minutes before Ionescu was able to land the first shot of her professional career hitting a putback with just over five minutes left in the first quarter tying the game at 8 and keeping her team in it against the top team in the WNBA from last season.

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While Ionescu got the best of Sue Bird and the US Women’s National Team last year at Matthew Knight Arena, it was Bird and her teammates who took the win over a team led by several rookie players including Sabrina Ionescu.

Seattle won the game 87-71 led by Breanna Stewart with 18 points. Sue Bird finished with 11 points. For the game, Ionescu found her stride from inside finishing with 12 points, 6 rebounds, and 4 assists. Ionescu struggled from three-point range not making a shot against one of the top defenses in the WNBA. She missed 8 three-pointers and finished the game hitting 4 of her 17 shots.

For the first game of her WNBA career, it was not a bad start for the former Oregon Duck. Keep in mind, she is not in her home arena in New York, but in a ‘bubble in Bradenton, Florida along with the rest of the WNBA teams for the season. It is the new norm for everyone and so far, the WNBA had had minimal coronavirus cases to deal with unlike the NBA, NCAA and the NFL.

Sabrina Ionescu will play her next game against a former teammate. The New York Liberty will face the Dallas Wings and Satou Sabally. The Wings and Liberty are both 0-1 to start the season. Sabally scored 11 in her debut going 5 for 11 from the floor and 1 for 3 from three-point range.

New York and Dallas meet on Wednesday at 5 pm Pacific Time on CBS Sports Net.