Coach Chris DeMarco didn’t take the bait.
Asked about the officiating after the Liberty’s 88-77 loss to the Wings on Tuesday, DeMarco said the referees “were great” and followed that up with a smirk.
The Liberty did not lose the game due to officiating.
In the second quarter, Liberty won 29-11, with seven points coming from the free throw line. During that stretch, they shot 2-for-15 from the field (13.1 percent), including 0-for-5 from deep, and trailed by 16 at halftime.
The Liberty cut the Wings’ lead to single digits several times in the second half, but were never able to get back in front.
After the loss, one of the biggest issues plaguing this league took center stage: officiating.
Liberty was on the wrong end of some tough calls late.
In one instance, Jessica Shepherd appeared to elbow Rebecca Allen in the nose near the baseline when the ball fell out of bounds.
The Wings maintained possession and Allen left the game with an apparent nose injury.
Sabrina Ionescu said “it’s hard” to keep playing when you feel like fouls on one end of the floor aren’t being called for on the other.
“All everyone is asking for is consistency in one way or another, whether they call it that or not,” Ionescu said. “You have to describe things equally on both sides, and I think tonight you were able to see how difficult it can be when things are called one way… and then a different way in the other direction.”
Ionescu believes floundering is a bigger problem now “than ever before.”
“Sometimes I think teams that don’t sell as much don’t get rewarded,” Ionescu said. “And I think that’s just a difficult way to play because you want to continue to play basketball at a really high level and not have to change the way you play because of the officiating and because of what’s called. … I think that’s something that has to continue to be a point of emphasis is that we can’t let the game get to this point.”
Ionescu said she understands that arbitration reforms are a “work in progress” and acknowledged that Liberty did not lose on Tuesday solely because of arbitration.
“We would never point the finger at referees or one thing or another, because obviously this is not something we can control, but it is something we know will get better,” she said.