Liberty-Wings game postponed after New York sat on tarmac for 12 hours

Just because the WNBA has mandated charter flights for its teams doesn’t mean the planes always work. The New York Liberty found that out the hard way Wednesday, when mechanical issues stranded them on a tarmac for 12 hours and ultimately led to the postponement of Thursday’s road game against the Dallas Wings.

That matchup, originally set for Thursday night at the College Park Center in Arlington, Texas, was rescheduled to Monday night. Tipoff will be 7 p.m. CT; broadcast details are still being finalized.

Liberty coaches and players detailed their travel delay on social media Wednesday, with assistant coach Kristen Mann sharing on Instagram that the team spent nine hours on the plane and went “nowhere.” They were still in New York as of late Wednesday night.

Liberty rookie Pauline Astier also took to her Instagram story at around 10:30 p.m. to share that after 10 hours, the team’s plane was still on the tarmac: “10h après toujours sur le tamarac,” she wrote, accompanied by a picture of her sitting alongside Liberty developmental player Marine Fauthoux.

The Liberty did not respond to a request for comment at the time of publication.

Dallas became aware shortly before midnight that the Liberty were having plane issues and the game could be affected. But the switch on the Wings’ side was clearly less dramatic: A gameday shootaround became a practice, and the focus turned to prep for an upcoming game with the Los Angeles Sparks.

“It was definitely a weird wakeup,” Dallas guard Azzi Fudd said. “But I think we did a great job pivoting.”

Heavy rain and thunderstorms in north Texas led to hundreds of flight delays as the Federal Aviation Administration issued a ground stop at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport and Dallas Love Field on Wednesday.

Thunderstorms also swept across the greater New York City area late Wednesday afternoon, triggering delays at the city’s three major airports.

The WNBA attributed the postponement to travel delays as a result of mechanical issues with the Liberty’s charter flight, not weather. The Liberty’s next game is against the Indiana Fever in Indianapolis on Saturday. The Wings, meanwhile, will now play a back-to-back, hosting the Sparks on Sunday before playing the rescheduled game against the Liberty.

“We saw this type of stuff in college,” said Dallas coach Jose Fernandez, who’s in his first season after 25 years at South Florida. “I’m a firm believer that you control what you can control. Sometimes chaos is good (to test) how you respond to it. I thought these guys really responded.”

This article originally appeared in The Athletic.

New York Liberty, Dallas Wings, WNBA

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