Breanna Stewart scored 33 points and helped key a fourth-quarter comeback as the New York Liberty defeated the short-handed Dallas Wings 99-98 on Monday in Arlington, Texas, in a game of wild momentum swings.
Stewart also tallied 13 rebounds and eight assists for the Liberty (14-12) while Sabrina Ionescu finished with 21 points, Jonquel Jones racked up 14 points and 10 rebounds and Marine Fauthoux amassed 10 points and 10 rebounds.
The game was rescheduled from last Thursday because of travel difficulties for the Liberty, creating a home back-to-back for Dallas.
The Wings (17-9) built a 12-point third-quarter lead despite playing without star guard Paige Bueckers, who was held out of the game after suffering a head injury late in the Wings’ win over Los Angeles on Sunday.
Dallas led by nine points after a rousing third quarter in which they held New York to 3-of-18 shooting from the floor. But New York fought back with a big fourth, and Jones’ layup with 29 seconds remaining brought the Liberty to within a point. Stewart converted two free throws with 13 seconds to play to put New York on top by one.
Rebecca Allen added a free throw for the Liberty with six seconds remaining in regulation, but she missed the second shot. Dallas’ Arike Ogunbowale grabbed the rebound, was fouled and made both free throws to tie the game at 83 with 3.5 seconds left. Allen then missed a 3-pointer at the buzzer, sending the game into an extra period.
The teams traded the lead six times in overtime, with Ionescu’s 3-pointer with 1:49 to play putting the Liberty ahead for good at 95-93. Stewart followed with a layup to stoke the margin to four points before Dallas drew to within a point on Ogunbowale’s 3-pointer with 27.5 seconds left.
The Wings then forced a shot-clock turnover and called a timeout with 3.5 seconds to play to set the table for a final shot. That shot was a running layup at the buzzer by Ogunbowale that rimmed out, allowing New York to escape with the win and snap a four-game losing streak.
Ogunbowale had 29 points to lead the Wings, who had a six-game winning streak snapped. Azzi Fudd added 15 points. Jessica Shepard produced 13 points and 16 rebounds, Maddy Siegrist hit for 13 points and Awak Kuier tallied 10.
New York led 25-22 at the end of the first period and owned a 50-47 advantage at the break. Stewart led all players with 15 points before halftime while Dallas got 11 from Ogunbowale and 10 from Fudd and Siegrist over the first two quarters.
–Field Level Media
