Breanna Stewart scored 38 points and tied her career-high with six 3-pointers as the New York Liberty steamrolled the Minnesota Lynx 111-76 on Saturday in Minneapolis.
Stewart racked up 17 points in the first quarter and had 27 by halftime for the Liberty (27-7), who outscored the Lynx 37-15 in the second quarter and led by as many as 43 en route to their highest scoring output this season.
The five-time all-star shot 12-of-17 from the field, made all eight of her free throws and grabbed 11 rebounds.
Sabrina Ionescu supplied 19 points on 7-of-10 shooting, including 3-of-4 from distance, and Betnijah Laney posted 15 for New York.
Courtney Vandersloot bundled 15 points with nine assists and notched her 4,000th career point on her free throw that made it 101-64 with 6:15 remaining.
The Liberty shot 55.4 percent from the floor and canned 12 of 27 3-point shots while going a perfect 17-17 from the free throw line.
The visitors also outscored Minnesota 28-4 on fastbreak opportunities and held a 50-36 advantage in points in the paint.
Diamond Miller led the Lynx (17-18) with 18 points and Ariel Powers chipped in 15 off the bench. Napheesa Collier’s 10-point effort rounded out the double-figure scorers for Minnesota, which shot 43.7 percent from the floor and committed 14 turnovers that led to 25 Liberty points.
New York blew the game open after Kayla McBride’s 3-pointer pulled the Lynx to within 23-20 at the 2:08 mark in the first quarter.
Stewart’s running triple put the Liberty ahead 28-20 entering the second quarter, which began with Ionescu’s jumper that stretched New York’s lead to double digits.
Ionescu capped an 11-0 Liberty run with a basket to make it 34-20 with 8:05 left and tacked on two 3-pointers amid a 15-2 surge that Stewart polished off with her fourth trey of the half to swell New York’s lead to 52-29.
The Liberty made nine of their final 10 shots in the first half and took a 65-35 lead into the break on Vandersloot’s layup two seconds before the halftime buzzer.
New York shot 25-of-40 from the field, including 9-14 from 3-point range, in the first half.
–Field Level Media