Kayla Thornton’s emergence has made the Liberty even deeper

When the New York Liberty and Minnesota Lynx met a month ago, Minnesota was the better team. They were stifling on defense, crisp on offense, and overall made a veteran Liberty team look disorganized.

A month later, the two teams met in the Commissioner’s Cup championship game and the Lynx held off the Liberty, 94-89. This time, the two teams appeared to be equals, and the Liberty are still getting stronger.

Against the only team in the league that has appeared to be on the Liberty’s level, Kayla Thornton continued to prove she’s worthy of a super-team’s rotation and that bodes well for the team’s future.

“KT played really big for us on both ends of the floor, being a great two-way player, a great 3-and-D player,” Breanna Stewart said of her teammate. “Just understanding her role and playing it to the best of her ability, she’s ready for those drive-and-kick threes, and then at the same time defensively, she just makes it really difficult.”

Stewart and Sabrina Ionescu, who joined her at the podium after the game, didn’t hang their heads over the loss. They were frank about what cost them the game — too many turnovers, an inability to get Jonquel Jones the ball where and when she needed it, not closing out a few possessions on defense, and more. But it seemed they were also looking forward to their next practice, when they can dissect the tape from a game that has no bearing on the WNBA standings and prepare for a game that does against the Atlanta Dream on Sunday.

All the while, the team is getting healthier. Betnijah Laney-Hamilton returned after missing three games with a back injury and Courtney Vandersloot suited up for the first time since her mother passed away. Both were on minute restrictions, meaning Thornton remained in the starting lineup.

As she has done when called on all year, she stepped up.

Thornton did most of her damage in the first half when it seemed the Lynx were unprepared for her three-point shooting barrage. It’s hard to fault them too much, considering the Liberty fill their lineup with All-Stars and Thornton is primarily a reserve.

Still, Thornton is just two games removed from a 6-of-7 three-point shooting display against the Sparks. Open in the corner throughout the first half on Tuesday, Thornton made the Lynx pay.

“If they’re gonna leave me open then I’m just gonna have the confidence to shoot it and knock the shots down,” Thornton said.

Another way to measure Thornton’s impact? Against the clear other best team in the WNBA, Jones, who averages 17 points per game, took only three shots and scored three total points. The Liberty committed 21 turnovers as well, and they only lost by five. Earlier in the season, it seemed that the team goes as Jones does. Now, it doesn’t have to be that way.

We’ve seen enough by this point to know that Thornton’s play is not just an aberration. The nine-year WNBA vet played far more when she was with the Dallas Wings, but only shot better than 35% from three once. She’s at 42% this year and is 18-of-32 from three over her last six games.

When Laney-Hamilton and Vandersloot are fully integrated back into the lineup, Thornton will slide back to the bench. Only this time, she’ll have the confidence to be a spark when the team needs it most. As great as the Liberty starters are, the questions going into the 2024 season centered around how good that second unit could be. Thornton’s emergence adds some real depth, and she showed why on Tuesday.

“A lot of the attention’s gonna go to the big three and [Laney-Hamilton], so they were leaving the corner open and I was at the corner and those are shots that I take every day,” Thornton said.

As long as the Liberty clean up what they can control, mainly not letting defenses speed them up and force turnovers, the team won’t have a problem beating anybody on a given night.

“We’re our own worst enemy,” head coach Sandy Brondello admitted. “We’re still right there. It was a great learning experience.”

UBS Arena became Barclays Center East

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Despite the brouhaha over the Liberty needing to host the game on Long Island to accommodate the NBA Draft at Barclays Center, the fans made the Liberty feel right at home.

Once the game started, all controversy was forgotten.

The credit should go to the Liberty gameday staff, who made sure it felt like any other game at Barclays Center. The Torch Patrol was there tossing T-shirts into the crowd, the Timeless Torches brought the roof down during a first-half timeout, and the vaunted Ellie Stomp was loud as ever.

But the fans deserve most of the credit. When Stewart went on a personal 9-0 run in the fourth quarter when the Lynx had extended their lead to 10, the 7,015 fans sounded like the 17,000 that flocked to Brooklyn last fall for the WNBA Finals. Seafoam green dominated the crowd and more than a handful came to the arena dressed in full Statue of Liberty garb.

Sunday, the Liberty will be back home. There won’t be the pomp and circumstance of a Commissioner’s Cup final, but the game will actually count toward the standings. Liberty fans have filled the lower bowl at Barclays every game this year — a first since the team moved to Brooklyn.

The team they’ll be cheering for will be hungry. They don’t take kindly to other teams daring to beat them.