President William Ruto was among the spectators at Barclays Center in Brooklyn as Kenyan-born basketball player Madina Okot and the Atlanta Dream closed out their regular-season campaign with an 83-65 victory over New York Liberty on Wednesday night.
Ruto attended the WNBA fixture while in New York for the United Nations General Assembly, taking the opportunity to watch Okot in action.
Atlanta produced a commanding performance to secure fourth place in the regular-season standings with a 31-13 record. The position guarantees the Dream home-court advantage when the playoffs begin.
Allisha Gray was Atlanta’s leading scorer with 24 points, while Naz Hillmon added 16 in a convincing display by the visitors.
The Dream will learn their first-round playoff opponents on Thursday, with either Indiana or Washington scheduled to face them from Sunday, September 27.
The game was interrupted by an injury involving Angel Reese before the break.
Reese was hit in the face while defending Sabrina Ionescu. The officials initially called an offensive foul on the New York guard before changing the decision to a flagrant 1.
Reese made both free throws awarded following the incident but left the court during the closing moments of the second quarter.
She stayed in the locker room at the start of the third period and later returned to the bench with 6:19 remaining in the quarter. However, she did not take any further part in the contest, finishing with six points and six rebounds.
Atlanta Dream remain dominant
Atlanta continued to dictate proceedings despite losing Reese.
The Dream entered the second quarter one point behind but turned the game around with a dominant spell before half-time. They went into the break leading 41-26.
New York struggled to mount a comeback, with Breanna Stewart missing the game because of left knee soreness. The Liberty’s deficit reached 18 points in the third quarter, and they were unable to get within seven points during the remainder of the contest.
Jonquel Jones posted 10 points and 14 rebounds for New York but left the game during the third quarter after suffering a left ankle injury.
Jones appeared to hurt herself after attempting a three-pointer and seemingly landing on a spectator’s foot.
Marine Fauthoux scored 14 points for the Liberty, while Han Xu contributed 11.
New York completed the regular season with a 26-18 record and will enter the postseason as the eighth seed. They will meet Minnesota in the opening round.
The Liberty had also marked the occasion before tip-off by raising their 2026 Commissioner’s Cup championship banner.
The franchise further honoured Rebecca Allen, who is in her final season with the team. Allen is in her third stint with New York, having previously played for the Liberty from 2015 to 2019 and again between 2021 and 2022.
