With player absences piling up, the outlook for the Liberty‘s first extended road trip of the season began to look grim. Suddenly the team that soared while achieving the franchise’s best-ever start (9-0 to begin the season) came back to earth with a couple losses as Leonie Fiebich departed for EuroBasket and Jonquel Jones suffered a right ankle sprain.

But after Sabrina Ionescu’s late steal closed out Wednesday night’s win against the Golden State Valkyries, the Liberty entered Thursday 1-1 on the four-game road trip.

“I’m happy and proud of the way that we’re resilient. There’s a lot of things that are happening on our team,” said Breanna Stewart, who scored a game-high 23 points along with 10 rebounds, three assists, two blocks and a steal against Golden State.

“We continue to fight through it no matter who’s on the court. We know this road trip is tough and we want to take it one game at a time…”

Wednesday’s win came three nights after Ionescu, Jones and Fiebich were all sidelined for a loss against the Seattle Storm.

Now, the Liberty’s next “fight” comes against the Phoenix Mercury, a team that defeated the Liberty, 89-81, last week on the night Jones suffered her injury that’ll keep her sidelined for at least a month.

The Mercury enter Friday’s matchup on a five-game winning streak and will host after having five days of rest while the Libs bounce from city to city. Oddly enough, the Liberty entered Thursday as favorites to win the game but the surging Mercury have proven they have what it takes to defeat the defending champs in any matchup.

In last Thursday’s win, Phoenix won without the services of Kahleah Copper (left knee management). And star Satou Sabally, who averages 19.3 points and 8.1 rebounds per game, didn’t even play up to her standards: 15 points on 4-of-18 shooting while logging nine rebounds and four turnovers.

Rookie Monique Akoa Makani enjoyed a career-best 21 points while do-it-all star Alyssa Thomas filled the statsheet: 18 points, 15 rebounds, seven assists and two steals.

All that — plus Jones’ and Fiebich’s absences — led to an eight-point Liberty loss. And those two will still be unavailable while all key Mercury stars and contributors are fully rested.

The bad news continues as Liberty head coach Sandy Brondello couldn’t provide a timeline for Fiebich’s return from international duty. Fiebich’s German squad lost, 83-59, to Belgium in the quarterfinal round. Germany will now face Turkey in a classification game Friday.

The winner of that game will play in a matchup to decide fifth place while the loser goes on to compete in the seventh-place game. Both games take place on Sunday.

“I don’t,” Brondello said Wednesday when asked if she has any idea when Fiebich will be back. The coach added she hasn’t “spoken to her yet,” and that Liberty general manager Jonathan Kolb “will be in communication with her agent.”

That timeline keeps Fiebich out of the Liberty’s last game of the road trip against the Atlanta Dream on Sunday. Fiebich didn’t play the last time the two teams met on June 17. Jones did and helped the Liberty overcome a 17-point deficit in the win.

The Dream’s new-look offense — under new head coach Karl Smesko — now gets a shot of revenge without two of the Liberty’s best defenders. The WNBA’s second-best team in three-pointers made (10.3) — almost the same as the Liberty (10.4) — now face less defensive pressure with Jones and Fiebich absent.

The matchup poses a threat to the Liberty’s hope of returning home on a good note.

And it could get in the way of finishing the road trip .500, which would be good enough for a team currently shorthanded.