Liberty Stun No. 1 Lynx 91-75: Game 1 Full Recap
Updated October 9, 2026: The Game 2 schedule is labeled as the outlook at publication and links to the Game 2 recap.
Liberty 91, Lynx 75. Stewart goes for 34, Fiebich hits four threes and New York steals home court.
Breanna Stewart scored 34 points with 12 rebounds as No. 8 New York beat top-seeded Minnesota 91-75 at Target Center. The Liberty outscored the Lynx 51-31 after halftime to take a 1-0 lead in the first-round series.
It is also a rematch of the 2024 WNBA Finals, which New York won 3-2 for the franchise's first title. The Liberty won the regular-season series this year, 2-1, so the 8 vs. 1 matchup never looked like a normal 8 vs. 1. Stewart was listed day-to-day with a sore knee. She played 38 minutes anyway.
How it happened
Minnesota won the second quarter 26-15 and led 44-40 at halftime. New York answered with 25 points in the third and 26 in the fourth. Leonie Fiebich made four of her five threes, while the Liberty's late 8-0 run pushed the lead to 19.
Ionescu to Stewart
Ionescu assisted Stewart five times. Those five baskets were worth 11 points, and the two of them scored 47 of New York's 91. Stewart also assisted four of Fiebich's baskets.
The first one came just before halftime. With 43.6 seconds left in the second quarter and New York down 38-36, Ionescu found Stewart for a 5-foot turnaround to tie it at 38. Stewart missed the and-one free throw, and Minnesota still led 44-40 at the break.
The Liberty opened the second half on an 11-2 run, and Ionescu and Stewart had a hand in all 11 points. At 9:44 Stewart set up Pauline Astier for a layup. At 9:09 Ionescu hit Stewart for a 4-foot layup to tie it 44-44. At 8:44 Stewart made both free throws for a 46-44 lead. At 7:27 Ionescu hit a 27-foot step-back three. At 6:38 she found Stewart on a driving layup for a 51-46 lead, and the Lynx called timeout.
In the fourth, with New York up 79-68, the same connection closed it. At 4:07 Ionescu kicked it to Stewart for a 23-foot three. At 3:36 she found her for an 8-foot floater. At 2:49 Ionescu hit a 26-foot three. That 8-0 burst made it 87-68, New York's biggest lead of the day.
The difference
- Threes: The Liberty made 13 of 25 from deep. The Lynx made 9 of 26.
- Free throws: Stewart alone went 10-for-12. "We can't give her 12 free throws," Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve said, per the AP.
- Foul trouble: Napheesa Collier and Natasha Howard each finished with five fouls, and Howard played just 18 minutes.
- Rebounds: New York won the glass 38-23.
Top performers
- Breanna Stewart, Liberty: 34 points, 12 rebounds (11 defensive), 6 assists, 2 steals, 2 blocks, 11-18 FG, 10-12 FT, 38 minutes.
- Leonie Fiebich, Liberty: 16 points, 6-7 FG, 4-5 from three, 8 rebounds.
- Sabrina Ionescu, Liberty: 13 points, 4-14 FG, 3-8 from three, 6 assists, 2 steals in 28 minutes. Five of those assists found Stewart.
- Pauline Astier, Liberty: 7 points, 8 rebounds, 5 assists.
- Jonquel Jones, Liberty: 8 points and 5 rebounds while playing through an ankle injury, per the AP.
- Nia Brodie, Lynx: 16 points on 6-7 shooting, 4-5 from three.
- Kayla McBride, Lynx: 14 points, 6 assists.
- Napheesa Collier, Lynx: 12 points on 6-14 shooting.
- Olivia Miles, Lynx: 11 points and 8 rebounds on 3-12 shooting in her first playoff game.
What's next
Outlook at publication. New York leads 1-0. Game 2 is Tuesday, September 29 at 8:30 p.m. ET at Barclays Center in Brooklyn on USA Network and CNBC. A Liberty win ends the series. A Lynx win sends it back to Minneapolis for Game 3 on Thursday. For the result, read our Game 2 recap.
Stewart isn't taking anything for granted. The Liberty lost in the first round last year, and she had a short message for her teammates after this one: "This doesn't mean relax."
Box score: ESPN.
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How this story was made: Ryan Moalemi picked the story and the angle. Full Court Buckets gathers its own game data and verifies it against official box scores. AI tools drafted it from that data and the sources linked above so it could post the same night, then Ryan reviewed and edited it before publishing. How we make Full Court Buckets