– by Luciano Calvosa
A Lot of Sports Talk contributor
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NEW YORK — One day before the United States celebrates its semiquincentennial in grand fashion, Breanna Stewart ignited a ton of fireworks on the court.
Stewart lit up Barclays Center to the tune of a season-high 36 points, leading the New York Liberty past the Minnesota Lynx 99-86 on Friday night. All five starters scored at least 13 points for the Liberty, who followed up their Commissioner’s Cup championship win against the defending WNBA champion Las Vegas Aces on Tuesday with another triumph against the team with the best record in the league.
New York’s win also prevented Minnesota head coach Cheryl Reeve, with 379 career regular-season victories, from becoming the WNBA’s all-time winningest head coach.
One day after being named a WNBA All-Star for the eighth time, Stewart set the tone early by connecting on her first seven shots from the field on her way to 18 first-half points. The Liberty found separation late in the second quarter, using a 13-2 run to turn a one-point deficit into a halftime lead they would not surrender.
Sabrina Ionescu added 17 points and six assists while Jonquel Jones recorded a double-double with 14 points and 15 rebounds. Four of the five Liberty starters scored in double figures by halftime, and New York shot a blistering 64.7 percent from the field (22-for-34) in the game’s first 20 minutes.
Minnesota remained within striking distance for much of the game but could not slow down Stewart’s offensive attack, as Breanna also added 18 points after halftime and was even more efficient from the floor (7-of-9). Rookie guard Olivia Miles led the Lynx with 14 points while adding five rebounds and five assists. Kayla McBride had 18 points for Minnesota, who remain without its All-Star forward, Napheesa Collier, who has not played this season after offseason surgery on both ankles.
*Editor’s note: Above the byline is the photo gallery from Friday evening’s game, with photos taken by ALOST staff photographer Chris Gonzalez. After clicking on a photo to enlarge the picture, press the left and right arrow buttons on either side of the caption to scroll through the rest of the pictures that appear on the first page. Also, click on the numbers and/or arrow appearing immediately below the picture grid to load the next set of photos. There are 19 pictures in total.
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