MINNEAPOLIS — Sabrina Ionescu hit a tiebreaking 28-foot 3-pointer with 1 second left and Breanna Stewart scored 30 points to help the New York Liberty beat the Minnesota Lynx 80-77 on Wednesday night, taking a 2-1 lead in the WNBA Finals.
The Liberty — who came back from 15 down for the third-largest comeback in WNBA Finals history — are one victory away from winning their first title. Game 4 is Friday night in Minnesota with a deciding fifth game in New York on Sunday if necessary.
With the game tied at 77, Ionescu had the ball and dribbled around before pulling up a few steps behind the arc and and hitting the 3-pointer that broke the tie.
Minnesota didn’t get a real shot to tie at the buzzer.
The Liberty have appeared in the finals five times before, including last season, and lost each one.
Trailing 73-69 with 2:26 left in the fourth quarter, the Liberty scored eight straight points, including the first five by Jonquel Jones. Ionescu, who had a relatively quiet game, then hit another 3-pointer after a Lynx miss to make it 77-73 with 55.5 left.
Bridget Carleton got the Lynx within 77-75 with a layup 21 seconds later. On New York’s next possession Ionescu had a 3-pointer go halfway through the basket before popping out and Minnesota got the rebound. Napheesa Collier was then fouled with 16 seconds left and hit both free throws to tie it setting up the exciting finish.
Collier finished with 22 points and Kayla McBride 19 for Minnesota. Collier now has 249 points in the 2024 playoffs, passing Diana Taurasi (245) in 2009 for the most in a single postseason in WNBA history.
With her game-winning 3, Ionescu passed Crystal Robinson (62) for the most career 3-point makes in the playoffs in Liberty history. She also brought her total 3-point total this postseason up to 28, tying her franchise-record 28 in last year’s playoffs. That’s tied for the fifth most in a single postseason in WNBA playoff history.
ESPN Research and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
