– by Adesina O. Koiki
A Lot of Sports Talk editor-in-chief
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NEW YORK — Breanna Stewart had to turn the page for the New York Liberty to come back even more determined to break the franchise-long drought without placing their hands on the the WNBA championship. But in the biggest basketball game on this season of redemption, Stewart and the Liberty needed to go back a chapter and absorb the not-so-sweet prose written before they started successfully in rewriting 2023’s script.
Stewart was locked in from the start of Sunday’s much-anticipated WNBA semifinals series, scoring 34 points in leading the Liberty to an 87-77 victory over the two-time defending champion Las Vegas Aces inside Barclays Center. Sabrina Ionescu had 21 points while Jonquel Jones had 13 points and 12 rebounds as the Liberty, who never trailed in the contest, shot 50 percent from the field in the contest (30-for-60).
The rematch from last year’s Finals, which the Aces won in four games and closed out the series in Brooklyn, weighed heavily on Stewart, last year’s WNBA MVP, and the rest of the Liberty, and the team has made it no secret that they’ve used that defeat last season as motivation for 2024. Going up against this year’s unanimous MVP, Las Vegas forward A’ja Wilson, Stewart wasted no time in making an impact, scoring 11 points in the first quarter and 20 by halftime.
“I think I’ve just kind of grown from it, had a lot of time to reflect on it,” said Stewart about last year’s Finals series with Las Vegas. “How I can be better. How to handle things collectively better. I don’t forget who I am and what I can do. … That wasn’t my most proudest, but I’ll continue to be better now.”
*Editor’s note: Above the byline is the photo gallery from Sunday afternoon’s game, with photos taken by ALOST staff photographer Roberto Carlo. 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 41 pictures in total.
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