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Katie Barnes, ESPN.com
NEW YORK — It was a historic Sunday afternoon at Barclays Center for rookie Leonie Fiebich and veteran Courtney Vandersloot. Fiebich had a career-high 21 points, pacing the Liberty in their 83-69 win over the Atlanta Dream in Game 1 of their best-of-three first-round playoff series. Vandersloot passed Sue Bird to become the WNBA’s all-time playoff assist leader.
Vandersloot broke Bird’s record with just under five minutes left in the fourth quarter. After a steal, she lobbed the ball ahead to a streaking Breanna Stewart, who finished at the rim. It was the 365th playoff assist for Vandersloot. Bird was sitting courtside.
“It’s tough to chase Sue,” Vandersloot said. “She’s a winner, that’s why she has a lot of playoff assists. For her to be in the building, that’s pretty special.”
“The way that [Vandersloot] can continue to set people up in many different ways, I’ve been a [beneficiary] of that,” said Stewart, who also played six seasons with Bird in Seattle. “She’s one of the best to ever do it.”
Vandersloot finished the game with four points and three assists, the exact number she needed to pass Bird. She came off the bench for the Liberty, something she hadn’t done since 2017.
Fiebich shot 7-for-8 from the field, including 4-for-4 on 3-point attempts, in her first WNBA playoff game. She tied the Liberty record for most points by a rookie in a playoff game and became the eighth rookie to score 20 points this WNBA season.
“I was just happy that we moved the ball and my teammates found me,” Fiebich said. Fiebich made her first five shots from the field, and her four made 3-pointers were a Liberty record for the most 3-point field goals in a playoff debut.
“They’re leaving me open a little bit, they have to guard everybody else on my team,” Fiebich said. “So I can take advantage of that. Obviously it helps if you see your first ones go in.”
Four Liberty players scored in double figures in the win, led by Fiebich’s 21 and 20 from Stewart. The top-seeded Liberty can advance to the semifinals on Tuesday with a win at Barclays.
Fiebich, who is from Landsberg am Lech, Germany, replaced Vandersloot in the starting lineup on Sunday. She had previously started 15 games for the Liberty. She’s one of only two Liberty players who have played in all 41 games this season. Fiebich is averaging 6.7 points and shooting 43.3% from beyond the arc.
“She’s a great shooter,” Liberty coach Sandy Brondello said. “I like when she’s shooting the ball and being aggressive. She only missed one. A little pull-up. She’ll work on that tomorrow.”
Originally drafted in the second round of the 2020 draft by the Los Angeles Sparks, the Liberty acquired Fiebich’s rights in a multi-team 2023 trade that sent Marina Mabrey from Dallas to Chicago. Fiebich, 24, has played professionally overseas and for the German national team.
When asked after the game how to say “on fire” in German, a bewildered Fiebich wasn’t sure how to respond.
“I don’t think we have that,” she said. “In basketball, we use a lot of English words. So, on fire would work.”
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