When Breanna Stewart is at the top of her game, there might not be another player in the world better than her.
Stewart gave an example of that Friday night when she pumped in a game-high 36 points to highlight the New York Liberty’s 99-86 defeat of the Minnesota Lynx.
On Tuesday night, Stewart will shoot for an encore when the Liberty take on the visiting Dallas Wings.
If it’s anything like Friday night, Dallas might want to consider clamping down on Stewart from the opening tip. She scored 16 first-quarter points, putting her team in control and leaving her teammates in awe.
“You want to find ways to keep her going and to keep the game going in that way but it’s amazing,” said center Jonquel Jones. “It’s amazing. I’ve seen her do it a number of times now, and every time I’m just sitting back in awe of, you know, of the player that she is.”
Stewart is averaging 20.1 points and 8.5 rebounds for New York (13-8), which also gets 15.1 points and 9.0 rebounds from Jones.
Meanwhile, Dallas (13-8) arrives after defeating Toronto 89-76 on Sunday behind 22 points and seven assists from Paige Bueckers. She’s the first WNBA player since Katie Smith in 2003 to score at least 20 points and shoot at least 50% in five consecutive games, per ESPN.
In her second WNBA season, Bueckers is averaging 20.3 points and 6.1 assists per game while shooting 52.2% from the field. The addition of Jessica Shepard (14.2 ppg, 11.4 rebounds, 5.0 assists) has given Bueckers someone to play off on the offensive end.
“Paige and I have a great connection on the court,” Shepard said. “I think it’s just because we both play basketball the right way.”
Bueckers and Azzi Fudd are also playing lockdown defense. Toronto made only 2 of 23 shots when the duo were primary defenders, going 0-for-10 against Fudd.
Bueckers and Fudd each scored 24 points on May 24 in a 91-76 win at New York, the teams’ only previous meeting this year.
–Field Level Media
