Marine Johannes achieved a career-best 27 points to lead the New York Liberty to a commanding 111-71 victory over the Las Vegas Aces on Sunday. Johannes' performance included a strong fourth quarter, where she scored 12 points and hit four of seven three-point attempts.
Johannes' previous three-point performance tied her career high, making seven of twelve attempts from beyond the arc. "She shot crazy today," teammate Han Xu said of Johannes after the game. "I know she’s an amazing player. Everybody knows, she just show herself today."
The standout game for Johannes came after she missed three games last month due to a left ankle injury. In the four games prior to Sunday's matchup, she had scored a combined 11 points, shooting 3-for-8 from three-point range.
Despite her individual success, Johannes emphasized the team's collective effort. "It just feels good, knowing that [the Aces] were missing players, we had to stay ready, and we had to stay focused," she said. "It’s just sharing the ball, playing with confidence and so yeah, I think we did a good job tonight as a team."
The Aces, playing the second game of a back-to-back and the fourth game in six days, rested key players A'ja Wilson, Chelsea Gray, and Jackie Young. Aces coach Becky Hammon cited the team's demanding schedule and a commitment to player health and safety. "Everybody has a brutal schedule at some point," Hammon stated. "We’re going to always err on the side of health and safety for our players, not going to put them in any kind of jeopardy to get hurt when we’ve been expending a lot of energy and traveling a lot of miles back and forth, crisscrossing the country."
Hammon questioned the timing of playing two games within a 23.5-hour span, noting the Aces' ongoing five-city, nine-day road trip. The absence of the Aces'