News & Lifestyle, On The Court

Liberty open preseason with 89-71 victory over Chinese national team

Photo Credit: Lamar Carter

It may have only been the first preseason game of the 2019 WNBA campaign, but you may not have noticed it judging by the crowd on hand at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center or the sheer volume of Chinese media in attendance.

Those media and those fans were treated to some entertaining women’s basketball at the corner of Atlantic and Flatbush, and the homestanding New York Liberty prevailed in their matchup with the Chinese national team by a final score of 89-71.

And among the nearly 5,000 that were in attendance for the festivities were some notables from both inside and outside of sports.


As we all know, there’s no hype like New York hype, and much of the Gotham hype entering the game revolved around second-round draft pick Han Xu, who of course was playing against her team from her home country to don Libs statue green and black.

Say what one wants about the Yao Ming comparisons she has encountered, one only has one chance to make a good first impression. It appeared she did just that by putting up 19 points, bringing down five rebounds, and dishing out three assists.

If she can continue to put up those kinds of numbers as the regular season grinds on, it may be safe to say the Liberty will be winning a bit more than seven games in 2019.

Especially when those 19 points are complimented by 19 points from Kia Nurse. Among those 19 was this four-point play.

Tina Charles also finished in double-digits with 13. Li Meng led China with 15 points.

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