MINNEAPOLIS — Leonie Fiebich’s contributions can sometimes fly under the radar.
But her impact was hard to ignore Sunday in the No. 8 Liberty’s 91-75 win against the No. 1 Minnesota Lynx.
Fiebich went 5-for-5 from the field, including 4-for-4 from deep in the second half, to finish with 16 points and help seal the Game 1 victory in the best-of-three series.
Fiebich’s timely 3s in the third quarter helped the Liberty build a lead. She attributed her open looks to better execution on offense.
“When we decide we want to pass the ball, we usually get really open looks from side to side and not just play one action and then force a shot,” Fiebich said. “So I feel like when I get good shots, it’s always a good sign if we move the ball well enough.”
Fiebich does a little bit of everything for the Liberty. She also contributed eight rebounds, three assists, a steal and a blocked shot.
She’s certainly an X-factor in this series.
The Liberty outscored the Lynx by 21 points when Fiebich was on the floor. She was part of the brigade that badgered Lynx rookie Olivia Miles.
“She’s a dog,” coach Chris DeMarco said after the win. “She’s incredible. She was just at the World Cup, playing high minutes there for Germany, competing at a high level and she just does whatever it takes to win, whatever it takes. And the ball found her in the second half, and she knocked down 3s and obviously huge for us.”
Jonquel Jones stressed Fiebich’s importance in this series on both ends of the floor.
“The open shots help a lot but also her aggressiveness going downhill, getting easy layups, or just really finishing through contact and just having the scorer’s mentality,” Jones said. “When she does have the ball, [it] is very advantageous to us as a team. So we need her. She knows how much she means to us and just to continue to pour into her.”
Jones was good to go after rolling her left ankle in the Liberty’s regular-season finale Wednesday.
She logged close to 26 minutes amid a physical battle inside.
Jones, who often doesn’t start the fourth quarter, ultimately got to sit out the entire final 10 minutes after the Liberty built a comfortable lead.
She finished with eight points, five rebounds, three assists, a steal and a blocked shot.
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