WASHINGTON — “Youth equals chaos.”
Those were New York Liberty head coach Chris DeMarco’s words after his team survived a scare from the young gunnin’ Washington Mystics, winning 98-93 in overtime in front of a raucous CareFirst Arena crowd on hand for DC’s 2026 home opener on Mother’s Day Sunday.
We have learned from watching the Mystics over the last two years that they are capable of going on incredible runs in their building, even against the toughest opponents. Indeed, when it comes to them, youth equals chaos. On Sunday, their largest run was 11-straight points and they at one point led the game by eight. They led for over nine minutes of game time, including midway through the fourth.
Credit the Liberty for coming away with the win. In the process, they learned just how big of a contributor Marine Johannès might be this season.
The Liberty’s resident Wizard, Johannès failed to notch a new scoring career-high in regulation, as she missed her final four 3s after starting 5-for-7, but achieved the new personal record of 25 points when she nailed her sixth trey at a critical moment in overtime to make it 90-86 New York. (The six triples tied her career-best.) Then, with 24 ticks remaining and the Liberty up just two, she saved the game by poking the ball away from and out of bounds off Sonia Citron. From there, the New York iced the game with free throws.
The Liberty (2-0) were tested a whole lot more in this game, their second of the season, than they were in their first, a 106-75 rout of the Connecticut Sun in Brooklyn.
Remember, they were without two superstars (Sabrina Ionescu and Satou Sabally) in both contests. Also absent has been a very good player in Leonie Fiebich. Clearly, New York is not yet at full strength, and our editor-in-chief Cat Ariail had been wondering if they might fall into an early hole.
The dominant win over Connecticut was a promising step toward not falling into that hole. As for the nail-biter on Sunday? All we can say is that the Liberty definitely would have liked to win by more. But they gutted it out. And winning a game in that fashion could prove beneficial moving forward, as the team discovered a lot about how this iteration will respond to being down some players and under pressure in a close game.
With DeMarco being in his first year in the W, it was a win that built his players’ trust in him and vice versa.
Here’s his expanded quote on winning on the road against a motivated team and crowd:
A gutsy win. It says a lot about the character of our team. We knew it was gonna be tough. We talked before the game about trying to maintain our own energy, especially [for their] home opener, young team, youth equals chaos. They were gonna speed us up. Obviously we got into a lot of foul trouble, and we were mixing and matching, but overall it was just such a gutsy win.
Johannès likewise appreciated the way the team was able to come together through adversity:
Tough game for us. But at least we got the win. I think we are still learning, it’s like a process. I think we can be really happy with the way we ended the game. We really stuck together, and it was great.
Marine Johannès is lighting it up in 2026
Johannès has now gone 5-for-9 and 6-for-13 from deep in her first two games of the season for a combined 11-for-22.
The storyline here is interesting. She is still chasing her first WNBA ring, having missed the 2024 season in which the Liberty won it all. (She wanted to focus on playing with the French National Team as they prepared for the Paris Olympics.) A different European sharpshooter, Fiebich (of Germany), introduced herself to the New York faithful in 2024 and was a key part of the championship run.
But don’t forget about Johannès! Fiebich played nearly 10 more minutes per game than her in 2025, but Marine is capable of being just as dominant and efficient a 3-point shooter. In 2022, she made 2.3 treys per game at 43.7 percent, scoring 10 points a contest and dishing 3.4 assists. Put the two of them together firing away from the perimeter and watch out!
Fiebich is a proven part of a championship-winning puzzle, but Johannès lacking that bullet point on her resume shouldn’t take anything away from her. She just happened to be on a team that fell just short in 2023 and not on a team that got the job done in 2024.
Kiki Iriafen feasted on New York’s foul-ridden frontcourt
Breanna Stewart going for 23 points, nine rebounds, four assists, two steals and two blocks isn’t exactly the lede when it’s just another day at the office for her, but it’s impressive nonetheless.
Unfortunately for Stewie, she was the only Liberty post remaining in overtime after both Jonquel Jones and Han Xu fouled out. (Jones fouled out with 3:25 to go in regulation; Xu exited with 1:22 left in OT). The elimination of those two mattered a lot, because, after both were gone, Mystics forward Kiki Iriafen got great position on the smaller Betnijah Laney-Hamilton and got herself to the line where she made two free throws to cut it to two. Then, with 34 ticks remaining, Iriafen turned an offensive rebound into a putback layup that tied the game.
It took a gutsy take to the rim and free throws from Laney-Hamilton, followed by Johannes’ deflection, to overcome this glaring issue in the paint and win the game.
Iriafen got into foul trouble herself with five, but clearly she, Shakira Austin and Lauren Betts (who had a strong showing after being held scoreless in her first WNBA game) were a problem for New York, and the now-stricter physicality rules didn’t help.
Stewie, who finished with five fouls, had some criticism of the officiating:
It disrupts everyone’s flow. Like not just selfishly talking about my team. Both sides of the game; this game was two hours and 41 minutes long, like that’s insane. And we said it last game, I know it’s gonna take time of figuring out what’s the standard and what’s gonna be called. But there’s calls that are being called that are unnecessary on both sides. And then there’s no flow. So I don’t know, I still don’t know.
Iriafen racked up 16 points and seven boards in the second half and overtime for 20 and 12 on the game. New York has to do a better job defensively in the paint the next time they face Washington.
With Pauline Astier and Julie Vanloo, is the point guard position actually an area of strength for the Liberty?
It’s been well-documented how point guard Julie Vanloo got the call to play for the Liberty at the last second and went from out of the league to nearly posting a triple-double (12 points, 11 assists, seven rebounds) against Connecticut.
After losing Natasha Cloud because they prioritized other free agents, New York placed starting point guard duties on 24-year-old rookie Pauline Astier’s shoulders, making that position an area marked by potential and room to grow rather than solidified star security.
Yet, Vanloo did what she did off the bench in the first game of the season, and then Astier followed it up with 18 points, seven helpers, five boards and two swipes on Sunday. She scored seven points in the first 3:48 of the contest, including a difficult layup high off the glass that she simply made look easy with the poise of a veteran. She later calmly knocked down 4-of-4 free throws in the final 19 seconds of overtime. Also, both of her steals came in OT, and she was the only player on either side with any swipes in the extra frame.
Stewie had high praise for the French rookie:
Pauline is great. Knowing that she’s a rookie, and she continues to kind of take what the defense gives her, gets downhill. Even those free throws at the end. Those aren’t easy things. And she stepped to the line, knocked them down with confidence. She’s just really continuing to learn as she goes.
