Breanna Stewart scored 34 points and Sabrina Ionescu had 21 to help the New York Liberty beat the Las Vegas Aces 87-77 on Sunday in Game 1 of their semifinal series.
Jonquel Jones added 13 points and 12 rebounds for the Liberty. Game 2 of the best-of-five matchup is Tuesday night in New York. Kelsey Plum scored 24 points and A’ja Wilson added 21 for the Aces.
This was a rematch of last season’s WNBA finals which the Aces won in four games, including capturing the championship in New York. The Liberty said they were scarred by that loss and used that as motivation all season. New York had the best record in the league and earned the top seed in the playoffs.
Last season, the Aces were the No. 1 seed, so New York had to travel to Las Vegas for the first two games of the finals. The Liberty returned home down 0-2 and were unable to regain their momentum.
New York came out strong on Sunday behind Stewart and led 28-21 after one quarter. Las Vegas closed to 37-34 with 4:11 left in the half before New York closed the second quarter on an 11-4 run to go up by 10 at the break. Stewart, who had twenty points in the first twenty minutes, had six points in that sprint. She hit eight of her 10 shots in the first half.
The Liberty scored the first five points of the third quarter and the lead increased to 62-44 after a 3-pointer by Stewart. After a timeout, the Aces scored the next 12 points to get within six points. Courtney Vandersloot finally ended the drought for New York with a layup that led to a point and restored a nine-point lead at the end of the third.
Las Vegas hung around and trailed only 75-67 until Ionescu hit a 3-pointer with 7:34 left in the game and quickly turned to point to Spike Lee, who was sitting courtside wearing her jersey. In Game 2 of the opening-round win over Atlanta, the basketball superfan gave the Liberty guard a high-five that she said felt like “New York being injected into my veins.”