DALLAS — Marine Fauthoux has been waiting for her moment.
In her fifth game of the season, that breakthrough happened. Boy, did the Liberty need it.
Fauthoux recorded her first career double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds to go with two assists in the Liberty’s 99-98 win on the road against the Wings.
She became the first rookie guard to put up that stat line and drain a pair of 3s off the bench.
Fauthoux was so impressive that coach Chris DeMarco decided to use her for the entire five minutes of overtime.
“She’s a competitor,” DeMarco said. “She’s played at very high levels. She’s a winner and her teammates trust her.”
Monday had been a long time coming for Fauthoux. The Liberty’s third-round pick in the 2021 draft signed a developmental contract this season, meaning she can play in only 12 regular-season games before her contract must be converted to a standard deal in order to play more.
Fauthoux started the season sidelined as she worked her way back from a yearlong rehabilitation from a torn anterior cruciate ligament in her left knee.
She made her WNBA debut June 6, and she had never logged more than 15 minutes in a game until Monday, when she played 27 minutes. Her career high for points entering Monday had been four.
Fauthoux’s performance Monday might get buried by Sabrina Ionescu’s overtime heroics and Breanna Stewart’s masterful, near triple-double.
But Fauthoux won’t forget this moment.
“It’s special because I want to play every time, every game,” she told The Post. “It was hard to see other people play, but I was sure my time would come, and I work really, really hard, and I’m really good with the teammates, so they [helped] me a lot tonight to be involved in the game.”
When Fauthoux was assigned to play in overtime, she was ready.
“I was feeling good,” she said. “And I know it’s my game. I know I can do that at the end, so I was really happy inside of me because, for me, I feel like I’m really back now from my injury.”
Now, it’s a matter of building off the game, both for her and as a team. The Liberty had lost four straight and eight of their past 10 regular-season matchups before Monday.
“We really needed this win at the end,” Fauthoux said. “So we fight a lot together. It was hard because they really are a great team, but we find strength between each other. So I was feeling good in the team.”
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
