The New York Liberty ended the Las Vegas Aces’ quest for a historic three-peat, securing a 76-62 win in Game 4 of their semifinal series on Sunday.
With the victory, the Liberty claimed the best-of-five series 3-1, sending the two-time defending champions packing and earning their second consecutive trip to the WNBA Finals.
Leading the charge for New York was two-time MVP Breanna Stewart, who posted a dominant double-double with 19 points and 14 rebounds. Sabrina Ionescu, the former No. 1 pick, added 22 points and seven rebounds in a bounce-back effort after scoring only four points in Game 3.
“It’s Vegas. Everybody knows we’re going to get their best shot,” Stewart said after the game. “They got us last year, and we wanted to make sure that we continued to go on, go back to the Finals, and take care of what we didn’t do last year.”
Last season, the Liberty lost in four games to the Aces in the WNBA Finals. However, this season it was a different story for the top-seeded New York, who went 6-1 against Las Vegas, including the playoffs.
The Liberty started the series strong, taking a commanding 2-0 lead, but were unable to sweep the Aces in Game 3. Las Vegas edged out a win to set a WNBA record with their 12th consecutive playoff victory at home.
However, with no team in WNBA history having ever come back from an 0-2 deficit in a best-of-five playoff series, the Aces faced long odds heading into Game 4.
Sunday’s game was closely contested throughout, but after the Aces took a 3-0 lead with the first basket made in the game, they wouldn’t lead again for the remainder of the matchup.
Entering the fourth quarter with a 53-51 lead, the Liberty strung a 16-2 run to open up the final frame and pull away from the Aces.
Three-time MVP A’ja Wilson scored 19 points and 10 rebounds, while Kelsey Plum added 17 points in the loss for the Aces.
Despite the big win, Ionescu emphasized the team’s focus on bringing home the franchise’s first WNBA title.
“We haven’t done anything yet, I think we all understand that,” Ionescu said. “We want to come out and continue to be the best team like we have been all year. We’re three wins away, and that’s really important to understand. We got to come out and we got to punch because nothing has been given to us yet.
The Liberty will next play against the winner of the semifinal matchup between the Connecticut Sun and Minnesota Lynx, which is tied 2-2.
Game 1 of the WNBA Finals is on Thursday, October 10.