Breanna Stewart put on a dominant offensive performance at Barclays Center on Friday, pouring in 36 points to lead the New York Liberty to a convincing 99-86 victory over the Minnesota Lynx in Brooklyn.
Stewart was virtually unstoppable from start to finish, serving as the engine of a Liberty offense that proved far too efficient for Minnesota to contain. Her 36-point effort was the defining storyline of the night, giving New York the firepower it needed to pull away and secure the win in front of the home crowd.
While Stewart shouldered the bulk of the scoring load, she had plenty of support from her teammates. Sabrina Ionescu orchestrated the offense with precision, distributing 6 assists to keep the Liberty attack flowing. Jonquel Jones was a force on the glass, hauling in 15 rebounds to anchor New York’s interior presence and limit Minnesota’s second-chance opportunities on the defensive end.
Minnesota struggled to find consistent answers offensively throughout the contest. The Lynx shot just 40 percent from the field, connecting on 34 of 85 attempts, and their three-point shooting was equally inconsistent — hitting only 10 of 31 attempts from beyond the arc for a 32-percent clip. Despite generating 16 offensive rebounds, Minnesota was unable to convert those extra possessions into enough points to threaten the Liberty’s lead.
Kayla McBride led Minnesota with 18 points, providing the Lynx with their most reliable scoring punch, but it wasn’t nearly enough to offset the gap created by Stewart’s brilliance. Olivia Miles contributed 5 assists to keep the Minnesota offense moving, while Natasha Howard led the Lynx on the boards with 6 rebounds. The Lynx did show discipline with the ball, committing just 8 total turnovers, and went 8-of-9 from the free-throw line for an 89-percent mark — but their overall shooting inefficiency proved too steep a hill to climb.
New York, by contrast, was able to build and sustain its advantage by capitalizing on Minnesota’s cold shooting stretches. The Liberty’s ability to generate quality looks while Jones controlled the paint and Ionescu kept the offense in rhythm gave New York a well-rounded attack that the Lynx had no consistent answer for.
The 13-point final margin tells the story of a game that was largely in the Liberty’s control. Minnesota’s 22 team assists reflected a willingness to share the ball, and their 8 steals showed some defensive activity, but those bright spots couldn’t compensate for the shooting struggles that plagued them all night.
For New York, the victory at Barclays Center reinforces the Liberty’s standing as one of the WNBA’s premier teams, with Stewart continuing to play at an elite level and Jones providing a double-double-caliber presence on the glass. Minnesota will need to find more consistent shooting if it hopes to keep pace in the competitive Eastern and Western conference races as the season progresses.
