By Shara Talia Taylor
The New York Liberty swept the Minnesota Lynx and moved ahead to the semifinals of the WNBA playoffs after a 87-71 victory at the Barclays Center Tuesday night.
New York became the first No. 8 seed in WNBA history to eliminate a No.1 seed in the first round, defeating Minnesota 2-0. The Liberty took charge early in the game and even when the Lynx increased their scoring, they remained ahead in the game.
“This was a tough year for us with injuries, with a lot of other stuff going on and I feel like we’ve been trending in the right direction for a while now and it doesn’t always show up in the wins and losses, but we were ready to play,” said Head Liberty Coach Chris DeMarco about his first playoff series win.
The Liberty never lost their lead during the game. They were ahead 26-21 at the end of the first quarter, 49-37 at halftime, and 68-56 by the end of the third quarter. They had their largest lead of 19 in the fourth quarter.
“We just wanted to come out and really set the tone at the beginning of the game,” said Jonquel Jones, about New York’s dominance in the game.
The Liberty outscored the Lynx in all but the third quarter when both teams scored 19 points.
“For me it was just getting on the boards, finding ways to impact the game inside,” Jones said.
She said New York had a size advantage and so she capitalized on it by being in the paint more.
Jones, who was named the 2026 WNBA All-Star Game MVP earlier this season, led the team with a double-double, 21-points and 13-rebounds in Tuesday’s game. Breanna Stewart, who played 40 minutes, also led the team with 21 points. Sabrina Ionescu added 18 points and led the team with three steals and seven assists.
“It felt like the third quarter would never end, it felt like the fourth quarter would never end,” Ionescu said. “They were kind of cutting the lead and getting some easy ones. We were turning it over or we stalled the game out a little too much and everyone made winning plays tonight.”
She said there are many ways to impact a game and all of her teammates were doing their part.
Courtney Williams led the Lynx with 18 points and Kayla McBride and Napheesa Collier each added 14.
“You’re playing for a championship so I think you’re just getting everyone’s A game every night and I think New York, like Mac said, did a great job of doing that and just for whatever reason we didn’t get it done,” Collier said about what it’s like playing in the playoffs versus the season.
The Liberty move forward to face the Atlanta Dream in Game 1 of the WNBA Semifinals Oct. 4.
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