By TENAJH SWEETING

Tribune Sports Reporter

tsweeting@tribunemedia.net

The lights in New York were too bright for the visiting defending champions Las Vegas Aces in game two of the best-of-five Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) semifinals.

Grand Bahamian WNBA pro Jonquel “JJ” Jones and the Libs took a commanding 2-0 lead against the Aces following a nail-biting 88-84 finish last night at the Barclays Centre in Brooklyn, New York.

Las Vegas came into game two with the hopes of not falling into the dreaded 0-2 hole in the semis, a deficit no team in WNBA history has been able to overcome in a best-of-five series. 

Four Libs played a pivotal role in derailing their chances on Tuesday night.

Three-point specialist Sabrina Ionescu continued her brilliant offensive run in the postseason with a game-high 24 points, nine rebounds and five assists.

Former WNBA MVP JJ posted 14 points, eight boards and four assists. She went 5-for-8 from the field and made 3-of-4 shots at the charity stripe in 34 minutes.

Last year’s league MVP Breanna Stewart had a shaky game on the offensive end with 15 points scored on 5-for-15 shooting from the field. However, she made up for it with a team-high eight assists and seven rebounds.

Gritty point guard Courtney Vandersloot chipped in 12 points off the bench in the narrow win. The NY Liberty kept the Aces at bay for the majority of the second half after going into the halftime break in the driver’s seat 46-40.

The two-time defending champions continued to chip away at the Liberty deficit which blossomed to 10 (53-43) at the 7:45 mark of the third. League MVP A’ja Wilson started to pick it up in the second half along with Aces guard Jackie Young.

The latter canned a timely shot from deep to put Las Vegas within 4 (61-57). Nonetheless, the home team kept their composure and stayed on top 69-62 going into the final quarter of game two. 

After leading the contest for a good chunk of the second half, the Liberty found themselves in a 81-81 tie following a wide open shot from deep made by Alysha Clark with 1:31 to go.

Ionescu quickly retaliated by knocking down a pullup jumper off an assist from JJ that gave the Libs a two-point cushion (83-81).

Aces’ Tiffany Hayes had the opportunity to tie the ball game at 83 apiece but she split her freebies at the line. Meanwhile, Ionescu had a chance to ice the game for the Libs but she bricked her first of two free throw attempts and left the game up for grabs 84-82.

However, she made up for her efforts on the next trip.

The defending champions still had a chance following a made jumper by the current WNBA MVP with 5.6 seconds remaining. Stewart would close out the game with consecutive free throws to send the Aces back to the drawing board ahead of their home game on Friday night.

Wilson had a dominant showing in the second half to lead her team with 24 points, seven rebounds and four assists in 37 minutes.

Young, who has struggled since the Paris Olympics, dropped 17 points, six rebounds and three dimes. She drained four three pointers on the night.

The Aces were once again outrebounded by the Libs 35-29. 

The home team shot 49.3 per cent and had 44 points in the paint while the visiting team shot 43.5 per cent with 22 points inside.

Game three will be a critical one for both teams on Friday night. The Liberty will look to take revenge against their rivals in sweeping fashion while the Aces will try to make WNBA history, climbing back from an 0-2 hole.

The contest begins on Friday at 9:30pm at the Michelob ULTRA Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.