NEW YORK (AP) — 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 semifinals series.
Jonquel Jones added 13 points and 12 rebounds for the Liberty. Game 2 of the best-of-5 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 that the Aces won in four games, including clinching the championship in New York. The Liberty said they’ve had a scar from that loss and have used it as motivation all season long. 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 go there for the opening two games of the Finals. The Liberty returned home down 0-2 and never could recover.
New York came out strong 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 ended the second quarter with a 11-4 run to go up 10 at the break.
Stewart, who had 20 points in the opening 20 minutes, had six points in that spurt. She hit eight of her 10 shots in the first half.
SUN 73, LYNX 70
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Marina Mabrey scored 20 points and Alyssa Thomas added 17 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists and Connecticut defeated Minnesota in Game 1 of their semifinals series.
DiJonai Carrington had 13 points and DeWanna Bonner had 10 points and 11 boards for the Sun.
Napheesa Collier, who averaged 40 points in the first round of the playoffs, led Minnesota with 19 points and nine rebounds. Bridget Carleton scored 17 and Kayla McBride added 12.
Mabrey opened the fourth with her sixth 3-pointer of the night, and Carrington scored on a putback to tie the score 62-all with seven minutes to play. Bonner hit a corner 3 and added a transition layup as the Sun crept ahead by three.
After the Lynx were held without a basket for more than three minutes, Collier’s driving layup cut the Sun’s lead to 71-70 with 33.9 seconds to go.
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