Liberty vs. Sky: Han Xu Scores Career-High 19 as New York Bounces Back With 85-66 Win

The New York Liberty needed a palate cleanser. Two days after Golden State held them to 60 points in their own building, they got one, and it came from a 6-foot-11 reserve who had never scored more than 17 points in a WNBA game.

Han Xu poured in a career-high 19 points on 6-of-8 shooting, and the Liberty beat the Chicago Sky 85-66 on Saturday afternoon at Barclays Center. New York knocked down 11 3-pointers and went 20 of 22 at the free-throw line, Breanna Stewart added 13 points and nine rebounds, and Leonie Fiebich, Rebekah Gardner and Jonquel Jones scored 11 apiece. The Liberty led by as many as 24.

Natasha Cloud led Chicago with 14 points on a tidy 6-of-8 afternoon, and Sydney Taylor added 13. But the Sky were outrebounded 44-29 and made just 4 of their 18 attempts from beyond the arc. Eleven days after beating New York in Chicago, they never seriously threatened to do it again.

Brooklyn Slowly Squeezes

Chicago actually had the better start and built an early lead of as many as five points. Then the Liberty took over. From a one-point game midway through the first quarter, New York closed the period on a surge and went to the second up 21-11.

The margin kept creeping up from there. Fiebich buried a 3-pointer about five minutes into the second quarter to make it a 15-point game, and New York took a 42-28 cushion into halftime.

Chicago clawed back to 51-40 late in the third quarter. The Liberty answered with a 9-0 run that made it 60-40 with 1:24 left in the quarter, and it was 60-43 entering the fourth.

The Sky's best punch landed too late to matter. Down 77-53, they scored eight straight, with buckets from Gabriela Jaquez and Jacy Sheldon, to get within 77-61 with 3:57 remaining. Han responded with a turnaround jumper, Marine Fauthoux drilled a step-back 3, and the final few minutes were mostly a victory lap.

Han Xu's Big Afternoon

Han played 17 minutes and made nearly all of them count. She hit 6 of 8 shots, including 2 of 3 from deep, went a perfect 5 of 5 at the line, grabbed five rebounds (three on the offensive glass) and blocked two shots. Seven of her points came in the fourth quarter, which is how she climbed past the previous career high of 17 she set on Aug. 1 in a 94-92 win at Phoenix. Per the AP, Han returned to the WNBA this season after last playing in the league in 2023, and she is averaging 6.1 points a game. Saturday was triple that, and then some.

Stewart did her usual quiet damage: 13 points, nine rebounds, two steals, two blocks and a perfect 5 of 5 at the line. Gardner was terrific off the bench with 11 points on 5-of-8 shooting, two steals and a plus-19, the best mark of anyone in the building. Fiebich made 2 of 3 from deep and Jones hit three 3-pointers in 19 minutes.

Then there is the strangest line in the box score. Sabrina Ionescu went 0 for 10 from the field and scored two points. New York still won by 19. Ionescu contributed five rebounds and four assists and finished plus-9, but the real takeaway is how much depth the Liberty showed on a day Ionescu could not buy a bucket. The New York bench outscored Chicago's 40-16.

For the Sky, Cloud was efficient and Taylor was busy, though Taylor needed 14 shots for her 13 points. Kamilla Cardoso added nine points and two blocks, and Courtney Vandersloot filled in the gaps with eight points, five rebounds and six assists.

The Turning Point: The Late-Third Knockout

Chicago's 51-40 moment was the opening it needed. An 11-point deficit with a quarter and change to play is a real game, especially against a Liberty team coming off a beating. Instead, New York scored nine straight in less than two minutes, and the lead was 20 heading toward the final period. That run turned a possible nervy finish into a stroll, and it was the clearest sign that Thursday's loss was not lingering.

Stats That Matter

• 44-29 on the boards: New York grabbed 36 defensive rebounds and won the offensive glass 8-3, so Chicago almost never got a second look.
• 20 of 22 at the line: The Liberty shot 91 percent on free throws. Chicago went 12 of 18.
• 11 of 27 vs. 4 of 18 from deep: A 21-point gap from 3-point range in a 19-point game.
• 40-16 bench scoring: Han and Gardner alone outscored Chicago's entire second unit.
• 8 blocks: Six different Liberty players blocked at least one shot.

What It Means

New York improves to 24-16 (14-6 at home) and quickly washed out Thursday's 79-60 home loss to Golden State, a game in which, per the AP, the Liberty were held to their lowest point total of the season. They also took the season series from Chicago 3-1, winning 96-95 in Chicago on June 17 and 95-94 at home on July 22 before the Sky won 93-86 on Aug. 18.

Chicago drops to 15-25 (5-15 on the road) and has lost three straight, after a 113-90 home loss to Indiana on Aug. 23 and an 87-81 defeat at Connecticut on Aug. 25.

According to the AP, the league has four games left on Sunday before it breaks for the FIBA Women's World Cup in Germany, with WNBA play resuming Sept. 17. Chicago hosts Washington that night, and New York visits Minnesota on Sept. 18.

The Surprise Scene Stealer

Every great ensemble movie has the character who barely shows up in the trailer and then steals the third act. On a Saturday matinee in Brooklyn, with Stewart on the floor, Ionescu in a shooting slump and three teammates stuck on 11 points apiece, the scene stealer was the 6-foot-11 reserve who checked in, made almost everything she threw up and set a new personal high. The Liberty have bigger names. On this afternoon they did not have a better story.

Stats from the official box score via ESPN. Career-high and season notes as reported by the Associated Press; streaks and season series recounted from 2026 results.