Liberty guard Sabrina Ionescu doesn’t want you to feel sorry for her.
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you → want → her
She sure doesn’t feel that way.
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She → feel → ?
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you → get → things
tRY IT NOWIonescu never has and likely never will.
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NOWIonescu → try → IT
It’s been ingrained in her not to dwell on the circumstance but rather to take things head on.
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It → ingrain → things
“I’ve always been the person that’s found a way through difficulties and hard times,” Ionescu told The Post before Friday’s win over the Lynx.
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Ionescu → find → Lynx
Don’t expect that to change even amid what has been the most challenging season Ionescu has endured in years.
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Ionescu → expect → years
Her resilience has been tested this year.
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resilience → test → ?
She missed the first two weeks of the season with a left foot injury.
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She → miss → injury
She missed even more time with a back issue.
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She → miss → issue
She’s been sidelined for 13 games and hasn’t quite found the consistency she yearns for in her game as her back remained a nagging problem.
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back → sideline → game
She’s averaging 15.1 points, the second fewest of her career.
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She → average → career
She’s shooting under 30 percent from deep for the second consecutive year.
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She → shoot → year
She was left off USA Basketball’s FIBA World Cup roster.
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She → leave → roster
She was in a slump for most of August and entered the break on a tough note after missing all 10 of her shots in the Liberty’s final game before Berlin.
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She → enter → Berlin
But Ionescu views this final stretch of the season and the playoffs as an opportunity to pen her desired ending to 2026.
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Ionescu → view → 2026
“It’s an opportunity to finish off really strong and kind of know that I’m good,” Ionescu said.
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Ionescu → ’ → ?
“I don’t want to go into an offseason just thinking like, ‘Yeah, it sucks because I was hurt and it is what it is.’
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it → want → offseason
But I think more knowing that there’s an opportunity to kind of rewrite this year for myself personally and the injury that I had but knowing that I can make it a lot smoother with winning.”
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it → think → winning
Ionescu stopped herself from comparing this year’s troubles to her first couple of seasons.
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Ionescu → stop → seasons
“Nothing tops” what she went through in her first two years, she said.
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she → top → years
Ionescu suffered a season-ending left ankle sprain four games into her rookie campaign.
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Ionescu → suffer → campaign
Her recovery extended into the 2021 season, limiting her lateral quickness and explosive burst.
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recovery → extend → quickness
But that experience gives Ionescu perspective as she’s dealt with turbulence this season.
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she → give → turbulence
She knows what it’s like to have the game she loves abruptly taken away.
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she → know → what
“If I wouldn’t have gone through that, this would have felt devastating for me,” Ionescu said.
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Ionescu → go → me
“This year would have felt devastating not having missed as much as I did, which is the most I’ve missed since I was out when I was early on my journey.
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I → feel → journey
“I wasn’t out with anything that was detrimental or something that kept me out for a long time,” she continued.
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she → keep → time
“I was able to work out through a lot of that stuff — just wasn’t good enough to play…
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I → work → stuff
I stayed positive through it because I knew that it could always be worse.”
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it → stay → it
During the World Cup, Ionescu underwent “more aggressive treatment and work” to help get her body right for this final stretch.
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body → undergo → stretch
In the Liberty’s first game back, Ionescu had 17 points, six assists and three steals.
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Ionescu → have → points
She also went 3-for-9 from deep.
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She → go → deep
“It’s about just feeling good and doing what I can to be healthy for when it matters the most,” Ionescu said, “and obviously that’s this point in the year.”
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that → ’ → year
The Liberty’s confidence in Ionescu remains high.
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confidence → remain → Ionescu
“She’s had her ups and downs, but when it’s winning time, she continues to produce,” coach Chris DeMarco said.
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DeMarco → have → ups
“We need her at her best to get to where we want to go.”
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we → need → best
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