Liberty's Sandy Brondello upsets referee over foul differential

MINNEAPOLIS – Liberty's loss in Game 4, which cost them their first chance to win the franchise's first championship, left Sandy Brondello uncharacteristically heartbroken.

The 12th-year head coach, in her third year with the Liberty, struggled with foul differential Friday night against the Lynx, who rallied for an 82-80 victory in the final seconds to force a winner in Game 5 in New York on Sunday.

The Lynx were whistled for nine fouls; freedom 14.

There was no obvious foul that decided the game in the final seconds, but it was something Brondello had to bring up.

“But I will say it. I'm looking at the thing here (box score) and (Lynx head coach) Cheryl (Reeve) talked about it last time, but we didn't get any calls today,” Brondello said sternly. “So do I have to speak in a press conference? Because they got in trouble and we ended up going down and getting hit and getting nothing. It was about 12-6 at halftime and they try to equalize towards the end. It was 14-9. No, everything we want is fair. So if we get hit, it's a foul. I'm one of the nicest coaches in this league, but this makes me angry. Just be fair. If they get hit, it's a bloody foul.

“But in the end it was a close game. There are things we could have done a little better. So we all could have done better, even if I take this damn time off. Sorry, I shouldn't say that, I won't repeat it. We just have to go back to New York and win.”

Reeve previously mentioned the foul total after Game 3, when the Lynx scored 18 points and the Liberty asked for 13 points.

Entering the fourth quarter, Breanna Stewart had four personal fouls.

Their first goal came in the second quarter from Napheesa Collier, who made both free throws and finished the night with 14 points.

She later committed two more shooting fouls in the quarter – one on Courtney Williams and the other on Kayla McBride, who made a three-point play.

Stewart had the most personal fouls of any player in Game 4.

Brondello admitted she tried to call a timeout to regroup after the Liberty grabbed an offensive rebound with 30 seconds left.

After Stewart grabbed the backboard, the Liberty failed to get anything down before the shot clock expired with 18.1 seconds left and the Lynx had possession.

“You didn’t hear me. So that’s on me,” she added. “But yeah, it wasn’t our best possession. It was loud in here. I don't know, maybe next time I'll just have to jump in the middle of the square. So I have to get better.”

Nyara Sabally and Jones both took on the workload for Stewart as she was forced to sit more often due to foul trouble.

Both went up against Collier and helped limit the Lynx to 26 points in the paint. The Liberty had 38.

Jones had 21 points and Sabally added four points and five rebounds in 11 minutes.

There were 14 lead changes and 13 ties in Game 4. In the last three games, a team has had a double-digit lead in the first half.