Breanna Stewart had 27 points on 10-for-14 shooting and grabbed eight rebounds Sunday afternoon as the visiting New York Liberty dominated the Toronto Tempo 106-69.
Rebecca Allen added 14 points for the playoff-bound Liberty (26-16), who are jostling for home-court advantage to open the postseason. They will finish their regular season with two home games.
Jonquel Jones contributed 11 points and Pauline Astier scored 10 points and had nine rebounds for New York.
Laura Juskaite scored 28 points for the injury-depleted Tempo (11-31), who lost their sixth in a row and have long been out of playoff contention. Kiki Rice added 19 points as the team played the final home game of its inaugural season in the WNBA. The crowd gave the expansion team an ovation at the end of the game.
The Liberty went into the fourth quarter up by 21 after outscoring the Tempo 33-20 in the third. Stewart had 14 in the period.
New York led 26-19 after the first quarter despite 10 points from Rice. The lead reached 12 points, 33-21, when Leonie Fiebich nailed a 3-pointer with 7:11 to play in the second quarter. A 6-0 surge by Toronto cut that margin in half with 5:57 to go.
Isabelle Harrison’s 3-pointer with 3:09 to play in the period pulled Toronto to within four, 41-37, but Stewart and Astier closed out the half with layups, bookending a missed layup by Toronto’s Julie Allemand, to put New York up 45-37 at intermission.
Back-to-back floaters by Stewart bumped the Liberty’s lead to 55-41 with 7:34 left in the third. Jones’ 3-pointer with 5:16 to go in the period gave them a 64-43 lead as they took control of the game.
–Field Level Media
