Breanna Stewart knows how to win big games.
She did it at UConn, leading the Huskies to four consecutive NCAA titles. She did it in Seattle as a part of two WNBA championship teams. She did it with “USA” across her chest, claiming three gold medals. And now, she’s one game away from doing it with the New York Liberty.
The Liberty, meanwhile, don’t know much about being the last team standing.
The franchise debuted in 1997 as one of the WNBA’s founding members. New York has played in the finals six times, never winning a title. They are the only member of the founding teams that hasn’t hoisted a championship trophy.
They want to change that.
Enter Breanna Stewart.
There’s a reason why they wanted to sign Stewart as a free agent in 2023: Because of games like Wednesday night in Minneapolis.
When the Liberty looked like they were out of the game, and the Lynx had their record 19,521 fans cheering them to a 15-point lead, Stewart was there to change the outcome. And while
made the final shot, Stewart made nine of her own (plus 10 free throws), virtually making the comeback on her own.
“Stewie got us back in there,” Liberty coach Sandy Brondello said after her team’s 80-77 Game 3 win to move a victory from the franchise’s first championship.
Stewart finished with 30 points, 11 rebounds and four blocked shots, while also going 10-of-10 from the free-throw line.
“We don’t win this game without Stewie,” Ionescu said. “What she was able to do, just chipping away. The [winning] shot was nice, but that doesn’t go against what she was able to do for us tonight. She was able to will us back into this game.”
She did it fueled by anger.
Every time Stewart looked at the scoreboard, the emotion built. She was mad the Liberty were losing, and rather than fighting off the anger, Stewart let it consume her.
“I was motivated, I was mad, and I liked the matchups that I had,” Stewart said. “I was attacking them to make sure we could get this back where we needed it to be for it to be a ballgame.”
But despite her outpouring of offense, Stewart couldn’t win on her own. She needed Ionescu’s buzzer-beater. She needed Jonquel Jones’ rim protection (two blocks), Leonie Fiebich’s 3-point shooting (3-of-5), and the energy boost from the bench.
So she made sure she got it.
The game had been locked with the Lynx up 71-69 for three minutes, and then Minnesota called a timeout. Stewart had a message for her team in the huddle.
“We aren’t losing this [expletive] game,” she said in a moment that was caught on the video broadcast.
“That’s why I can’t be mic’d up,” Stewart joked after the game.
Her teammates received the message, and after the Lynx’s Courtney Williams floated in a shot in the lane, Jones answered with a 3-pointer, cutting the lead to one.
That was the last time the Liberty trailed.
“I could feel it,” Stewart said. “I could feel the momentum was shifting to our side. They were up, and their shots weren’t falling. We were getting good looks, and it was like, if we are going to be this close, we aren’t leaving here without a win.”
Jones made another shot — a 2-pointer this time off an Ionescu assist — and Ionescu drilled a 3-pointer with 55 seconds left for a 77-73 lead. But if this series has taught us anything, it’s that it’s not over until it’s over. And after a Bridget Carleton make and two free throws from Napheesa Collier, the game was tied.
That’s when Ionescu had her moment. A moment, that wouldn’t have been possible without Stewart.
And now, it’s possible for the Liberty to finally win a title. On Friday they could close out the series, taking home a championship trophy for the first time in 27 years.
Because that’s what happens when you have Stewart on your team. You win.
