Sabrina Ionescu found herself in a hairy situation.
About midway through the third quarter of her Liberty’s 100-52 win over the Connecticut Sun, Ionescu was called for a shooting foul on a Marina Mabrey 3-point attempt.
An incredulous Ionescu immediately protested the call, showing the referee that her ponytail had been knocked sideways by Mabrey’s shooting motion.
Liberty coach Sandy Brondello challenged the call, and a video review revealed Mabrey was the one who made contact with Ionescu’s head.
The call was overturned, eliciting an animated celebration from Ionescu.
Ionescu ran around the Barclays Center court and repeatedly pumped her arms in the air. She then forcefully high-fived the Liberty’s bench before unleashing one final fist pump in a moment of pure hype.
“I knew I didn’t foul her,” Ionescu said afterward. “Very thankful for my coaches and entrusting me with the fact that I asked for a challenge, because I know I didn’t. My ponytail was sideways. She hit me.”
Ionescu was officially credited with a block. The Liberty led 74-28 at the time of the challenge.
“We were up by a lot, so it was a great opportunity for us to challenge and make sure that I can continue to earn Sandy’s trust to be able to continue to challenge,” Ionescu said.
Brondello interjected: “She has my trust.”
Ionescu finished with 18 points on 6-of-9 shooting, including 4-of-3 on 3-pointers, in 19 minutes, contributing to the largest margin of victory in Liberty history and the second largest in WNBA history.
With the win, the defending WNBA champion Liberty improved to 7-0 — tied for the best start in franchise history.
“We knew there were 17,000 fans there tonight,” Ionescu said. “My message before the game was, ‘This is a big game.’ There could be new fans, new kids that come and want to watch us for this first time. They don’t know we’ve had four [games] in six days. They don’t care. They want to go out and watch Liberty basketball.”
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