Breanna Stewart collected team-highs with 15 points and 10 rebounds as the New York Liberty clinched the league’s best record and top seed in the WNBA playoffs with an 87-71 victory over the host Washington Mystics on Tuesday night.
The Liberty (32-7), with one regular-season game remaining, secured the top mark for the first time since 2015. They have three consecutive conference titles, including last season, but are still seeking their first WNBA crown. The Minnesota Lynx (30-9), who defeated the Connecticut Sun 78-75 on Tuesday night, will finish in second in the regular-season league standings.
Stewart’s layup with 8:15 remaining in the first quarter gave New York a lead it would not relinquish. Her basket was part of a 10-0 run, and the Liberty put up 29 points in the opening quarter to take early control of the game.
Washington (13-26) pulled within seven points on Stefanie Dolson’s 3-pointer for a 53-46 deficit with 5:58 left in the third quarter. The Liberty answered with a 19-4 run to extend their lead to 22 points and cement the victory.
With the loss, Washington fell out of a three-way tie for the final playoff spot with the Atlanta Dream and Chicago Sky. Those two teams were playing each other on Tuesday night. Washington will now be a game behind the winner of that contest with each team having one game left to play in the regular season.
Stewart led the high-scoring Liberty’s balanced offensive attack. Also scoring in double figures were New York reserves Lenoine Fiebich with 13 points and Nyara Sabally with 12 points. Starting center Jonquel Jones added 11 points and seven rebounds, and forward Betnijah Laney-Hamilton chipped in 11 points.
Washington struggled on the boards, getting outrebounded 45-29, and also committed 16 turnovers. Ariel Atkins had 22 points to pace the Mystics as she drained 8 of 14 shots. She was the only Mystics player with double-figure scoring, as the team connected on just 37.7 percent of its field-goal attempts, while New York made 45.3 percent of its attempts from the floor.