{"id":785951,"date":"2026-05-10T06:19:35","date_gmt":"2026-05-10T06:19:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/785951\/"},"modified":"2026-05-10T06:19:35","modified_gmt":"2026-05-10T06:19:35","slug":"julie-vanloo-dazzles-in-liberty-debut-after-getting-through-dark-days-in-her-career","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/785951\/","title":{"rendered":"Julie Vanloo dazzles in Liberty debut after getting through \u2018dark days\u2019 in her career"},"content":{"rendered":"

Julie Vanloo made her presence felt within the first 20 seconds of checking into Friday\u2019s season opener<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Vanloo stretched out to snag a rebound before dishing an outlet pass to Breanna Stewart, who laid it in for an easy two points.<\/p>\n

\u00a0We\u2019ve got you covered on the Liberty beat\u00a0<\/p>\n

Join Post Sports+ for exciting subscriber-only features, including real-time texting with Madeline Kenney<\/strong> about all things Liberty and WNBA.<\/p>\n

\u00a0tRY IT NOW\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

On the Liberty\u2019s next possession, Pauline Astier delivered the ball to Vanloo, who knocked in a 3. Vanloo\u2019s body relaxed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first shot I made was a full relief because\u2026 I couldn\u2019t be myself before that,\u201d Vanloo said after the Liberty\u2019s win over the Sun.<\/p>\n

Vanloo almost quit her pursuit of a WNBA roster spot this season after the Los Angeles Sparks waived her Tuesday. She spent the past week riding a Penny board to Venice Beach, where she\u2019d work out and shoot hoops as she tried to rediscover joy in the game.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was dark days,\u201d Vanloo recalled.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Julie Vanloo reacts during the fourth quarter of the the Liberty\u2019s blowout win over the Sun in their season opener at Barclays Center on May 8, 2026. Getty Images<\/p>\n

Vanloo questioned what was next, whether she needed to spend time at home in Belgium or whether she needed a mental and emotional reset as much as a physical break. She had given it her all in Sparks training camp, but it wasn\u2019t enough to earn a spot on the team\u2019s 12-player roster.<\/p>\n

Vanloo wasn\u2019t immediately sold on joining the Liberty on a hardship contract<\/a> when her agent called Thursday. She then phoned her mother, who reminded her who she was.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy mom said also, \u2018You\u2019re not a quitter,\u2019\u201d Vanloo said. \u201cSo I didn\u2019t do it. And I\u2019m super thankful for this organization. It\u2019s like my anxiety just went away and I just feel super free, liberated.\u201d<\/p>\n

From the outside, no one would have guessed that Vanloo had the Liberty\u2019s playbook for just 24 hours and arrived in New York around 1 a.m. Friday.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Julie Vanloo plays defense during the Liberty\u2019s win over the Sun. NBAE via Getty Images<\/p>\n

She felt exhausted but her adrenaline kicked in. She credited her new teammates for being smart and easy to play with. Chris DeMarco\u2019s new offensive system<\/a> \u2014 which had been lauded by players for its spacing principles, clarity and simplicity \u2014 was easy for Vanloo to pick up.<\/p>\n

After the first quarter, Vanloo looked over the box score and was surprised to see she had seven points, three rebounds and four assists.<\/p>\n

\u201cI said, \u2018Oh damn, this is a balanced stat line right here,\u2019 \u201d Vanloo said.<\/p>\n

Vanloo finished with 12 points, 11 assists and seven rebounds.<\/p>\n

Vanloo didn\u2019t come to New York to prove anything. But her play Friday confirmed her belief.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think I belong in the WNBA, that\u2019s for sure,\u201d she said. \u201cI didn\u2019t even come here to prove a point. I came here to play basketball, to help out an organization\u2026 that I once dreamed of playing here. I never thought I could.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vanloo is one of two players the Liberty signed to hardship contracts after it became clear New York would have only seven active players because of injuries to Sabrina Ionescu (left foot), Satou Sabally (cyst) and Rebecca Allen (left leg) and the absences of Leonie Fiebich and Raquel Carrera.<\/p>\n

Vanloo will likely be waived once the Liberty get closer to full strength. But she\u2019s making the most of her time here.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m incredibly proud of myself,\u201d she said, \u201cbecause, trust me, this is two years in a row, you get waived and it\u2019s not easy. And I just kept my confidence up.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Julie Vanloo made her presence felt within the first 20 seconds of checking into Friday\u2019s season opener. Vanloo…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":785952,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[49],"tags":[5336,24484,1488,62,19710,67,132,68,232],"class_list":["post-785951","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wnba","tag-breanna-stewart","tag-julie-vanloo","tag-los-angeles-sparks","tag-sports","tag-the-liberty","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us","tag-wnba"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116548833842445012","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/785951","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=785951"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/785951\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/785952"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=785951"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=785951"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=785951"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}