Sabrina Ionescu on How She and New York Liberty Teammates Are Inspiring Young Girls

The Olympic gold medalist and her teammates just earned the franchise’s first WNBA Championship victory.

Sabrina Ionescu / David Dow/Getty Images

Following the New York Liberty’s historic WNBA Championship victory on Sunday night, members of the team, including Breanna Stewart, Sabrina Ionescu, Nyara Sabally and Leonie Fiebich, joined Hoda & Jenna to talk all about the exciting win.

During the segment, which aired on Monday, Oct. 21, the team discussed the “insane” atmosphere that was winning at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, and what the WNBA means to viewers. Ionescu, who formed a girls’ basketball team at her middle school when there wasn’t one, also shared her thoughts on what it means to stay true to yourself.

“We portray what that means, like going out there and just being our true, authentic selves,” the 26-year-old California native stated. “Committing ourselves to being the best that we can be, with whatever makes us the happiest, and for us, that’s obviously playing basketball. Being able to go out there on the biggest stage and accomplish what we did was crazy.”

Ionescu has previously been outspoken about how her career in basketball allows her to not only fulfill her own dreams, but hopefully inspires young girls to pursue a career in professional sports, as well.

“I’m playing for more than just myself,” Ionescu told Forbes in 2021. “I go in every day, do my job and be the best basketball player I can be, but it definitely involves more than that—it’s inspiring the next generation of young girls who have someone to look up to and idolize and be able to see what I’m doing and what a lot of the other women in this day and age in sports are doing and want to be like them.”

As for her teammates, Stewart stated during a postgame press conference on Sunday that she’s been “manifesting” the New York Liberty’s WNBA Championship win, the first in franchise history.

“I’ve been like manifesting this moment for a while, and there’s no feeling like it, this game,” Stewart stated. “And credit to Minnesota, because they gave us a tough series and the fans have been amazing everywhere we’ve gone, but to be able to bring a championship to New York, first ever in franchise history, it’s an incredible feeling and I literally can’t wait to continue to celebrate with the city, because I know it’s gonna like, be bonkers.”

The New York Liberty team will have a chance to continue the celebrations on Thursday, Oct. 24, when a parade is hosted in their honor in downtown Manhattan.