Breanna Stewart poured in 27 points, 19 of them in the first half, as the visiting New York Liberty rolled to a 105-91 win over the Dallas Wings on Tuesday in the first of two games between the teams in three nights in Arlington, Texas.
The Liberty (30-6), who own the best record in the WNBA, won their fourth straight game and moved a step closer to clinching the top spot in the playoffs. New York remains three games in front of Minnesota in the standings with four regular-season games to play.
New York never trailed in the game and built a 17-point advantage in the second quarter on the way to a 15-point advantage at halftime. Dallas clawed to within eight points in the third quarter before the Liberty flexed their muscles and ran off a 13-0 spurt that all but cemented the contest.
Jonquel Jones added 19 points for New York. Leonie Fiebich finished with 16 points off the bench, Sabrina Ionescu racked up 14 points and 11 assists and Betnijah Laney-Hamilton scored 10 in the win.
Arike Ogunbowale scored 23 points, Natasha Howard tallied 21, Teaira McCowan had 11 points and Jacy Sheldon and Maddy Siegrist added 10 points each for the Wings (9-27), who lost their fifth straight game. Dallas has already been eliminated from postseason consideration.
The Liberty set the pace early on, Jones and Laney-Hamilton hit back-to-back 3-pointers to help New York snap a 5-5 tie and assume a six-point advantage at the 7:52 mark of the first quarter. New York expanded its lead to 10 points when Ionescu hit a driving layup with 2:55 to play in the period and led 28-18 at the end of the first.
An 8-0 run, capped by two free throws by Jones, pushed the Liberty’s lead to 38-22 with 7:48 to play in the second quarter. Dallas trimmed its deficit to nine points on Sheldon’s 3-pointer with 2:13 left in the period but the Liberty finished the half with a 9-3 run and carried a 58-43 advantage to the break.
Stewart led all scorers with 19 points before halftime while Jones added 10 for New York. Howard paced the Wings with nine points as Dallas was 4-of-14 from beyond the arc in the half.
–Field Level Media