Sabrina Ionescu paused for a second and checked her feet to make sure she was behind the 3-point line. She took a breath then fired, draining a 3 to stretch the New York Liberty lead to 11 points. As she frolicked backward with just over seven minutes to play in the fourth quarter,

Ionescu over the offseason sought to improve her first step and ability to beat defenders off the dribble in order to become less one-dimensional on offense. It was evident in the Liberty’s 87-77 Game 1 win over the Aces Sunday night in the WNBA semifinals.

Ionescu was an All-Star and All-WNBA second team honoree for the third straight year, and she gained an Olympic gold medal in between. Now she’s on primary ball-handling duty with Courtney Vandersloot taking a reserve role for the playoffs.