The New York Liberty evened the score on Sunday, defeating the Minnesota Lynx 80-66 to bring the WNBA Finals to 1-1. Although the Lynx threatened another comeback after taking the wild overtime win in Game 1, New York was victorious in the end.
Game 2 seemed to follow a similar storyline as Game 1: The Liberty took an early double-digit lead, before the Lynx closed the gap in the second half. But this time, New York was able to hold on to the lead and get the 14-point win over Minnesota in front of a record 18,040 fans at Barclays Center.
Betnijah Laney-Hamilton, who has been dealing with a knee injury, went off for the Liberty, becoming a key difference-maker behind a season-high 20 points. Meanwhile, Breanna Stewart was key on both offense and defense, putting up 21 points, eight rebounds and seven steals.
From the jump, New York forced Minnesota into five early turnovers, building up a 10-point lead to end the first quarter. Despite Minnesota pushing back against the lead, the Liberty were up by as many as 16 in the second quarter, heading into the locker room with a 49-39 lead at halftime.
The second half saw some echoes of Game 1, with Minnesota closing in on New York’s lead and threatening to go further. With the help of Courtney Williams and Napheesa Collier — who are both on outstanding postseason runs — the Lynx got within four points of the Liberty in the third quarter. But Breanna Stewart had other ideas, getting a massive block and a long two to close out the third frame with an eight-point lead.
Although New York brought things back to a double-digit lead to start the fourth quarter, a reckless closeout foul from Courtney Vandersloot gave Lynx guard Natisha Hiedeman three free throws and a chance to change the game’s momentum. Hiedeman missed the first, prompting a great cheer from the sold-out Liberty crowd, before making the next two. Shortly after, Collier scored another tough layup to get Minnesota within four points, and then another to get within two.
Stewart got two key-back-to-back steals, with Jonquel Jones finishing to make it a two-score game again. Williams quickly got a driving layup to bring it back, but Laney-Hamilton got a big three-pointer to change the momentum again.
New York went on a 7-0 run in the final minutes of the game, capped off by Leonie Fiebich making a massive, uncontested three-pointer that fired up the fans and gave the Liberty a bit more breathing room.
New York then capped things off with a few more points and an exclamation point from Jones to take the 80-66 win.
