Breanna Stewart brings Liberty to the brink of its first WNBA title

MINNEAPOLIS – Breanna Stewart sat on the bench in the fourth quarter of Game 3 of the WNBA Finals on Wednesday, her team trailing by two points. The New York Liberty had rallied from a 15-point deficit in the first quarter, thanks largely to an outstanding 30-point night from Stewart.

Before the Liberty returned to the floor against the home team Lynx and their 19,521 fans eager to see Minnesota return to its championship glory, Stewart emphatically delivered a simple message before the timeout expired.

“We won’t lose this game.”

“I could feel it,” Stewart said of that moment. “You could feel the momentum shifting to our side. It was like if we wanted to be that close, we weren’t going to leave here without this win.”

The Liberty carried out Stewart's request.

After 11 points in the final 2:10 from Sabrina Ionescu and Jonquel Jones – capped by Ionescu's 28-foot 3-pointer – New York secured an 80-77 comeback victory and is just one win away Winning the 2024 WNBA title.

And while Ionescu's final shot could leave the lasting image of the game, without Stewart's monster night, the Liberty — who are in the hunt for the franchise's first championship — would have been on life support on both ends of the floor.

The two-time WNBA, four-time NCAA champion and two-time WNBA MVP finished the game with 30 points, 11 rebounds and 4 blocks, making her the only player in league history to have multiple 30-10 Finals performances. She is also the only player to have a 30-point Finals game for two different franchises, her most recent with the Seattle Storm.

“We won’t win this game without Stewie,” Ionescu said. “What she's done is just keep hitting away… that (game-winning) shot is nice, but that doesn't contradict what she was able to do for us tonight and how she was able to just get us back in this one.” Game.

“She carried us,” Jones added of Stewart. “Without them we wouldn’t be able to play these big games.”

This year's WNBA Finals were a roller coaster ride for Stewart and the Liberty. In Game 1, New York blew a 15-point lead with five minutes left before losing in overtime. Stewart missed the game-winning free throw with 0.8 minutes left in regulation time and a layup in overtime that would have tied the game just before the final whistle.

Behind Stewart's 21 points and 5 steals, the Liberty rallied in Game 2. But in Minnesota's first home game of the series, New York was beaten first, battling the Lynx's defensive pressure early and committing eight turnovers in the first quarter. Minnesota converted those into 14 points, giving themselves a double-digit lead.

Stewart started heating up in the second half with six points, helping New York cut the deficit to a manageable eight by halftime. But she gave it her all after halftime: With two three-pointers, some hard jump shots and several And-1 throws, Stewart scored 13 points for the Liberty in the third and fourth periods in a row, equalizing the score and marking the 1-1 victory most consecutive team points scored by a single player in the WNBA Finals.

Her 22 points in the second half were the fourth-most scored by a player in both halves in Finals history.

“She made big, big plays and had a big performance,” Liberty guard Courtney Vandersloot said. “When we couldn't really score, she hit some big balls and kind of got our offense going. … That’s what you expect from your superstars.”

Stewart's effort on defense was equally effective. In addition to her rim protection – three of her four blocks came in the second half – Stewart, as the primary defender, held the Lynx to 4-for-15 shooting and forced four turnovers. In the last two games, Lynx star Napheesa Collier has shot 4 of 12 and committed six turnovers against Stewart.

“You just see their experience, right? She’s a great player,” New York guard Leonie Fiebich said. “On offense and defense alone, she made such great plays for us. She never gave up. She always came in and flew from somewhere defensively. It was great to watch her express herself like that.”

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Game 3 mirrored Game 1: The away team erased a big deficit – New York trailed by as many as 18 last Thursday – and walked away with the win. Since that heartbreaking loss, Stewart and the Liberty “were all just waiting for our moment, for the script to change a little bit,” she said.

“I was motivated,” Stewart said of Wednesday’s competition. “I was upset (that New York lost). And I liked my matchups that I had and I really attacked them to make sure we got this back to where we needed to be to make it a ball game.”

With another win, Stewart can give the Liberty the championship she envisioned when she signed with the team in free agency before the 2023 season. She can fully exorcise any remaining demons from the end of 2023 – a 3-for-17 performance in Game 4 as the Las Vegas Aces celebrated the WNBA title at the home of the Liberty. And if New York wins on Friday (8 p.m. ET, ESPN) or in a crucial Game 5 on Sunday, Stewart could become just the second WNBA player and the first since Cynthia Cooper to win at least three Finals MVPs.

But the glory of what might lie ahead no longer interested Stewart after Wednesday's game. The work is not yet done, she reiterated.

“We know we're just one game away from winning the championship and I think they're going to give us their best,” Stewart said. “They’ll give it everything they’ve got, and guess what, so will we.”