Breanna Stewart scored 18 of her game-high 27 points in the second half and the New York Liberty’s 3-point shooting propelled them to an 82-77 win over the Golden State Valkyries in Brooklyn on Thursday.
New York (5-0) shot just 10-of-25 from inside the 3-point arc, but the team’s long-range shooting — and especially Sabrina Ionescu’s 6-of-15 — helped the Liberty avoid their first loss of the season.
Ionescu hit five first-half 3-pointers and went into intermission with 17 points. She finished with 24 points, leading New York to a 13-of-36 team performance from outside.
Kennedy Burke added three made triples on four attempts on the way to 11 points. Burke also grabbed seven rebounds to match Stewart, while Leonie Fiebich grabbed eight boards for the Liberty.
Janelle Salaun led all players with 13 rebounds and scored a team-high 18 points for the Valkyries (2-3). Golden State took the reigning WNBA champion Liberty to the wire after losing by 28 points just two nights ago in a matchup of the same two teams.
The Valkyries took a 72-71 lead on Temi Fagbenle’s bucket with 3:56 remaining. Stewart answered on the other end before Salaun connected on one of her three made 3-pointers, pushing Golden State ahead, 75-73 at the 3:11 mark.
The exchange was part of six lead changes over the final four minutes, culminating with New York’s game-ending, 6-0 run. Leading 78-77, the Liberty got a huge defensive stop as they forced Golden State into a five-second violation on an inbounds play coming out of a timeout with 42.1 seconds remaining.
Natasha Cloud then iced the game with a layup on the ensuing possession change, and a pair of free throws down the stretch. The sequence accounted for four of Cloud’s seven points.
She added five rebounds and five assists.
Kayla Thornton scored 10 points for Golden State, Monique Billings added another 10 points off the bench, and Fagbenle had nine points with five rebounds in the loss.
–Field Level Media
