Assistant coach Roneeka Hodges grabbed hold of other assistant Olaf Lange, Courtney Vandersloot put her hands over her mouth, head coach Sandy Brondello grasped her hands above her head with worry and head athletic trainer Terri Acosta sprung into action after wing Betnijah Laney-Hamilton collided with center Jonquel Jones and ended up on the floor grabbing her right knee.
Following the Liberty’s eventual 75-71 victory over the Las Vegas Aces, the team’s morale was low. Center Jones, forward Breanna Stewart and head coach Brondello weren’t just disappointed in how they allowed the Aces to storm back from being down by 20 points. They were also dejected at the thought of Laney-Hamilton having to miss significant time after just returning to the court.
“Obviously to see anyone go down like that, there’s concern, but we know that what she wants us to do is focus and win this game,” Stewart said during the postgame presser. “And that was really the mentality. And K[ayla]T[hornton] came in and gave us the same type of energy. Injuries are tough and I hope she’s going to be okay.”
The team now knows that she will be. Laney-Hamilton didn’t suffer a major injury after she was evaluated. “Her return-to-play timeline is currently being evaluated by the team’s physicians and performance staff,” a Liberty spokesperson wrote in a statement also sent to The Next.
The Next can also report that Laney-Hamilton made the trip with the team to Dallas, where the Liberty will be playing two games this week on Tuesday and Thursday evening. The team sent their status report on Monday afternoon, and it revealed that she has been ruled as questionable for Tuesday night’s game.
An orthopedic surgeon contacted by The Next reviewed the film of Laney-Hamilton’s collision and fall. After reviewing the film, the surgeon concluded that she hyper-flexed her knee and that it wasn’t obvious that she suffered an injury that would lead to an immediate shutdown for the season and the playoffs.
The Next reached out to the team to get clarification on if that characterization reflected what happened to Laney-Hamilton, in addition to the type of evaluation she that received. No extra context was provided.
Laney-Hamilton’s fall and collision with Jones came just around two weeks after her return to play on Aug. 26 against the Phoenix Mercury. She’s played in five games and started in two since she was cleared to play. Her first game at home since returning to play was on Thursday against the Seattle Storm. Laney-Hamilton lead the team in scoring with 18 points on an efficient 50 percent shooting, 6 rebounds and 3 assists. She was out for six weeks following a minor knee surgery, and was back by July 15.
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Laney-Hamilton was clutching that same right knee when she fell to the ground and appeared to be in pain and distress. That’s why she, Liberty players and coaches were notably shaken when it happened.
“As someone who suffered multiple knee injuries myself … anything that happens to your knee freaks you out a little bit,” ESPN Analyst Rebecca Lobo explained on Sunday’s broadcast. “So the hope is that it’s not as bad as it seemed to be from the look.”
When Brondello was asked about Laney-Hamilton’s status following Sunday’s game, she mentioned the hard hit. Jones, who was sitting to Brondello’s right, rolled her eyes and removed her left hand from her face in frustration. Jones felt badly about accidentally running into her teammate and potentially putting her ability to play for the remainder of the season and playoffs in jeopardy. Her demonstrative facial expression showed just that.
“That was the tough part I would say,” Sabrina Ionescu said to a scrum of reporters outside of the Liberty locker room when asked about the collision. “It didn’t look fun, it didn’t look good. But, [Laney-Hamilton’s] strong. She’s dealt with this, kind of, the last couple of years and she’s always been able to bounce back. We don’t think it’s anything too serious, and so just wrapping our arms around her as she’s going to return back to play.”
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That’s exactly what the Liberty did when Laney-Hamilton ended up on the ground. The team called a timeout after a dead ball and Stewart ran across the court to where her teammate was still laying on the ground alongside trainer Acosta. Stewart put her hand on Laney-Hamilton’s back as Jones, Leonie Fiebich and Ionescu circled around their teammate. Kayla Thornton came out running from the bench and was followed by Brondello, who also wanted to see what was going on.
After Laney-Hamilton walked off on her own accord and back to the locker room to begin evaluation and testing, the Liberty had a game to win without their facilitating wing. So how did they do it? The answer was: the same way they’ve done it before. When Laney-Hamilton missed 12 games due to issues with her right knee and then recovery following her surgery, it was up to Thornton and Fiebich to fill in the gaps and provide all of the hustle plays and clutch treys.
“She’s a big part of what we do,” Thornton told reporters postgame on Sunday. “I think that’s kind of been our adversity this whole year, and I think we have people step up and stuff like that. So in that case, it wasn’t, you know, strange, because we’ve had that happen. So it was just a point of stepping up and getting through it.”
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