- Mechelle Voepel covers the WNBA, women’s college basketball, and other college sports for espnW. Voepel began covering women’s basketball in 1984, and has been with ESPN since 1996.
New York Liberty guard Sabrina Ionescu, 24, became the youngest player in WNBA history to have multiple triple-doubles, as she achieved that feat in Sunday’s 88-86 loss to the Chicago Sky.
She also became the first player in league history to have a triple-double in the first three quarters of a game.
Ionescu had 27 points, 13 rebounds and 12 assists for her second triple-double since joining the WNBA as the No. 1 pick in 2020 out of Oregon, where she had an NCAA-record 26 triple-doubles in her college career. Ionescu’s first triple-double in the WNBA came in May 2021.
“I don’t care about the triple-double; we didn’t win,” Ionescu said Sunday. “I’m just trying to do my part, continuing to get better every single day, continuing to learn from my teammates, from this coaching staff.”
However, Ionescu’s feats are impressing others. She nearly had a triple-double in the Liberty’s win over Minnesota on Tuesday — 26 points, eight rebounds, eight assists despite sitting out all of the fourth quarter — and she has been the catalyst for New York winning four of its last six games after losing seven in a row. Ionescu has averaged 24.0 points, 6.8 rebounds and 6.5 assists in those six games.
Asked what has helped elevate Ionescu’s game, Liberty coach Sandy Brondello said, “Just a lot of confidence and knowing that we believe in her. She’s a great player out there, and she’s going to get better and better.”
Ionescu joins Chicago’s Candace Parker as the only players who have had multiple triple-doubles in the WNBA’s regular season, with Parker getting her second on May 22, at the age of 36. Parker’s first was in 2017 when she played for the Los Angeles Sparks.
Parker’s Sky teammate Courtney Vandersloot and retired player Sheryl Swoopes are the only other WNBA players who have had multiple triple-doubles if you include the playoffs. For Vandersloot, they came in the postseason last year and the regular season in 2018. For Swoopes, they were in 1999 (regular season) and 2005 (playoffs).
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