Sandy Brondello cemented her place in Liberty history Tuesday night, becoming New York’s all-time winningest head coach with her 101st regular-season victory as the Liberty beat the Los Angeles Sparks 105-97 at Crypto.com Arena. Brondello, soaked and wearing a towel draped over her shoulders, spoke with a mix of celebration and focus after the game.
“It means a lot,” Brondello said. “It’s a privilege to be the head coach of the New York Liberty, an original franchise with the best owners in the league. But it’s really about the team and how we’ve bought into the way we want to play.”
Brondello, who took the Liberty job ahead of the 2022 season after the Mercury chose not to renew her contract, has guided New York to its first championship in decades last season, delivering on the promise of building a sustained winner. She downplayed the milestone, emphasizing continued progress and preparation for the next challenge.
The veterans in New York provided the backbone for the milestone win. Emma Meesseman matched a season high with 24 points, snagged nine rebounds and added four assists, while Jonquel Jones contributed 21 points and 11 rebounds. The duo’s performance helped offset a balanced Sparks attack, as Kelsey Plum led Los Angeles with 26 points, five rebounds and five assists, and four Sparks players finished with at least 16 points.
Strategically, New York offset Los Angeles’ high-powered offense by shifting from man-to-man to a zone defense. Brondello acknowledged the choice, noting that as long as the Liberty were able to outscore the Sparks, the defensive approach would hold up. Meesseman, who had criticized the team’s attention to detail in a recent game, praised the improved focus and execution in this matchup, saying the Liberty “paid more attention to detail” and that the effort felt more consistent as the game went on.
With the win, the Liberty sit in second place in the standings, six games behind the league-leading Lynx, the only team with a postseason clinch. The gap between second and fourth places is a slim 1.5 games, and three games separate fifth from ninth. The top eight teams make the playoffs, and New York faces a brisk stretch: 12 games over 29 days to finish the regular season.
New York will look to carry this momentum into back-to-back play as they head to Las Vegas on Wednesday for the next contest, aiming to keep climbing in the tightly packed playoff race. Brondello’s latest milestone underscores a program built on stability, talent, and a continued drive to win more games and chase another title. Summary: the Liberty’s win not only adds to Brondello’s record but reinforces New York’s status as a serious contender in a grueling closing stretch of the season.