MINNEAPOLIS — Liberty guard Sabrina Ionescu doesn’t want you to feel sorry for her. 

She sure doesn’t feel that way. 

Ionescu never has and likely never will. It’s been ingrained in her not to dwell on the circumstance but rather to take things head on. 

“I’ve always been the person that’s found a way through difficulties and hard times,” Ionescu told The Post before Friday’s win over the Lynx. 

Don’t expect that to change even amid what has been the most challenging season Ionescu has endured in years. 

Her resilience has been tested this year. She missed the first two weeks of the season with a left foot injury. She missed even more time with a back issue. 

She’s been sidelined for 13 games and hasn’t quite found the consistency she yearns for in her game as her back remained a nagging problem. She’s averaging 15.1 points, the second fewest of her career. She’s shooting under 30 percent from deep for the second consecutive year. 

She was left off USA Basketball’s FIBA World Cup roster. She was in a slump for most of August and entered the break on a tough note after missing all 10 of her shots in the Liberty’s final game before Berlin. 

But Ionescu views this final stretch of the season and the playoffs as an opportunity to pen her desired ending to 2026. 

“It’s an opportunity to finish off really strong and kind of know that I’m good,” Ionescu said. “I don’t want to go into an offseason just thinking like, ‘Yeah, it sucks because I was hurt and it is what it is.’ But I think more knowing that there’s an opportunity to kind of rewrite this year for myself personally and the injury that I had but knowing that I can make it a lot smoother with winning.” 

Ionescu stopped herself from comparing this year’s troubles to her first couple of seasons. 

“Nothing tops” what she went through in her first two years, she said. 

Ionescu suffered a season-ending left ankle sprain four games into her rookie campaign. Her recovery extended into the 2021 season, limiting her lateral quickness and explosive burst. 

But that experience gives Ionescu perspective as she’s dealt with turbulence this season. She knows what it’s like to have the game she loves abruptly taken away. 

“If I wouldn’t have gone through that, this would have felt devastating for me,” Ionescu said. “This year would have felt devastating not having missed as much as I did, which is the most I’ve missed since I was out when I was early on my journey. 

“I wasn’t out with anything that was detrimental or something that kept me out for a long time,” she continued. “I was able to work out through a lot of that stuff — just wasn’t good enough to play… I stayed positive through it because I knew that it could always be worse.” 

During the World Cup, Ionescu underwent “more aggressive treatment and work” to help get her body right for this final stretch. 

In the Liberty’s first game back, Ionescu had 17 points, six assists and three steals. She also went 3-for-9 from deep. 

“It’s about just feeling good and doing what I can to be healthy for when it matters the most,” Ionescu said, “and obviously that’s this point in the year.” 

The Liberty’s confidence in Ionescu remains high. 

“She’s had her ups and downs, but when it’s winning time, she continues to produce,” coach Chris DeMarco said. “We need her at her best to get to where we want to go.”