The New York Liberty went wire-to-wire Tuesday night in a 95-67 victory over the visiting Golden State Valkyries behind a 24-point performance by Breanna Stewart.
It was the Liberty’s fourth 90-point game in a row to start the season, one shy of the WNBA record.
New York (4-0) won through ball movement with three players registering at least five assists, and out-assisting the Valkyries 30-16, a piece of the Liberty’s game that lacked against the Indiana Fever on Saturday.
Natasha Cloud led the Liberty with 10 assists but struggled with 2-of-9 shooting from the floor while Jonquel Jones picked up her third double-double in four games with 13 points and 10 rebounds.
Off the bench, Marine Johannes scored 18 points with a second-quarter performance that featured four 3-pointers on six attempts. The offensive burst came at a time when the Valkyries began finding their shooting stroke following a first quarter where the first-year WNBA side shot 12.5 percent from the floor.
The Liberty started the game on a 22-3 run in the first 7:01 of the opening quarter. New York achieved its lopsided start through pace and moving off the ball.
However, Golden State (2-2) found its stride and outscored New York 41-40 in the second and third quarters, but the damage was already done.
Part of that surge by the Valkyries was a 15-2 run in 4:10 of the third quarter, but it woke up the Liberty for the fourth and New York outscored Golden State 28-16 to close out the victory.
Golden State’s Veronica Burton had 13 points and led the team with six assists. Former Liberty guard Kayla Thornton added 13 points and six rebounds, Temi Fagbenle scored 11 points and Kate Martin had 10 for the Valkyries.
Before the game, Thornton also received her 2024 WNBA championship ring, an honor she earned playing last season with the Liberty. The homecoming for Thornton was almost a short one after she took a hard hit on a screen 3:33 into the game. Thornton left the game momentarily but returned to play.
The two teams play again on Thursday. Golden State hopes to have injured veterans Tiffany Hayes and Monique Billings back in the lineup after both practiced before Tuesday’s game but were ruled out.
–Field Level Media
