Breanna Stewart's 34 points leads the Liberty in Game 1, pushes the top-seeded Lynx to the brink
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Breanna Stewart produced yet another clutch performance in the WNBA playoffs with 34 points and 12 rebounds for the New York Liberty in a 91-75 victory over the top-seeded Minnesota Lynx to open their best-of-three first-round series on Sunday.
Stewart, the two-time league MVP, added six assists, two steals and two blocks. She shot 11 for 18 from the floor with her friend and former college teammate Napheesa Collier, the 2024 WNBA Defensive Player of the Year, guarding her most of the afternoon.
Stewart, who recently helped the U.S. national team win a fifth consecutive World Cup, has the second-highest postseason scoring average by any player in league history. She was two short of the Liberty franchise record for points in a playoff game.
Nia Brodie led the Lynx with 16 points in 19 minutes off the bench and Kayla McBride had 14 points after missing her first five 3-point attempts. Collier and All-Star center Natasha Howard each fouled out, and star rookie Olivia Miles had a quiet postseason debut with 11 points on 3-for-12 shooting and just one assist.
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The Liberty were as tough of an opponent as a team with the league's best regular season record could face, finishing 26-18 and just two years removed from their first WNBA championship that came at the expense of the Lynx in a dramatic final that went the full five games.
The Liberty were ousted in the first round last season by the Phoenix Mercury, who then eliminated the top-seeded Lynx before losing to the Las Vegas Aces for the title.
Ahead of the game, Minnesota fans were fired up for a chance at a rematch against the Liberty, who beat the Lynx in the 2024 finals on the back of a contentious foul call — and, subsequently, exacerbated by some contentious fashion choices by WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert.
“The commissioner is wearing a dress with the New York City skyline on it, thinking that's appropriate as an impartial arbiter?” said Maggie Lofboom of North Branch. Engelbert’s dress inspired Lofboom’s own Game 1 fashion choice: a dress screen-printed with the Minneapolis skyline.
She wasn’t the only one. At least two other fans sported their own skyline dresses.
“Whenever we play New York in the playoffs, I will be wearing my dress with the skyline on it because, Cathy, we never forget in Minnesota,” Lofboom said. “Never.”
Across the court, Sophie Hoiseth of Mankato noticed Lofboom’s dress, which she called “funny.”
“That championship game was traumatizing,” Hoiseth said. “So, this game is like reliving it a little bit, right?”
New York hosts Game 2 on Tuesday with the opportunity to eliminate Minnesota, which must win to bring Game 3 back to Target Center on Thursday.
