Sue Fowl admitted that it felt like a fairy story.
It was solely becoming that her remaining regular-season recreation in her hometown of New York ended together with her hitting the final shot. The league’s all-time help chief made a 3-pointer to seal the sport and provides the Seattle Storm a 81-72 win over the New York Liberty on Sunday.
“This has been amazing,” stated Fowl, who completed with 11 factors. “In some ways, I was kind of bummed my last game in New York was so early in the season. It was one of the first places that I was going to play for the last time.”
Fowl, the league’s all-time assists chief, introduced Thursday that she would retire on the finish of the 2022 season. She grew up in Lengthy Island, about an hour from Barclays Middle.
Whereas the shot clock ran down with 18.9 seconds left. Fowl obtained the ball on the wing and held her follow-through a lot to the admiration of the gang, who gave her a standing ovation as she got here out of the sport proper after.
“It was bouncing around and I knew it needed it,” Fowl joked about holding her hand up.
The Liberty honored her pregame with a four-minute video tribute, and one-time teammates Sami Whitcomb and Natasha Howard gave Fowl a jacket and jersey that featured each New York staff stitched into them.
New York gamers wore shirts that stated: “Thank You Sue. Love, New York” whereas they warmed up an hour earlier than the sport.
“That was special for New York to do that,” Fowl stated. “I couldn’t have written this any better. It’s been a really fun day.”
Fowl wanted about 100 tickets for household and associates who needed to take in her final recreation in New York. The group — one of many largest of the season — included her mother, Nancy.
The 41-year-old Fowl acquired a standing ovation from the gang when she was launched. She had a comparatively quiet first half with two factors, three assists and two rebounds as Seattle led 39-37 on the break.
The sport was tight all through, and Seattle (10-6) led 75-72 in the ultimate minute earlier than Williams hit a 3-pointer with 53.3 seconds left from the wing after a scramble for the ball. Then 35 seconds later Fowl hit her remaining shot.
Gabby Williams scored a season-high 23 factors to steer the Storm.
Marine Johannes scored a career-high 23 factors to steer New York (6-10). Sabrina Ionescu added 12 factors, 10 assists and eight rebounds for the Liberty.
RETURN OF DIDI
DiDi Richards performed in her second recreation of the season, coming back from a proper hamstring damage. She checked in halfway by way of the primary quarter. Richards completed the sport taking part in 13 minutes and scored one level and 4 rebounds.
“It’s nice seeing DiDi back out there,” Ionescu stated. “She’s had a long road of rehabbing, so she’s going to continue to get better and help us.”
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Extra AP ladies’s basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/womens-basketball and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports