Breanna Stewart Makes WNBA History Wearing Liberty, Winning Over Dream

There were plenty of moments on Sunday that showed Liberty are still trying to shake off the troubles of Tuesday, when they failed to win the Commissioner’s Cup again.

But after a slow start, a lackluster performance from Jonquel Jones and a terrible shooting afternoon from Sabrina Ionescu, Breanna Stewart led the Liberty to an 81-75 victory over the Atlanta Dream at the Barclays Center.

Stewart scored 22 points to become the fastest player in WNBA history to reach 5,000 points, in 242 games; Diana Taurasi had the previous mark with 243 games.

“It’s definitely an honor. Obviously when you pass someone like D (Taurasi), he really paves the way for scoring and stuff like that. It’s an incredible honor and something I’ll definitely text her about,” Stewart said with a laugh. “But all in all, I wouldn’t be here and doing all of these things without my teammates and I really appreciate them helping me get to this point.

“But we try to do more than just get compliments.”

Jones had just five points, just two more than her three free throws on Tuesday against the Lynx in the Commissioner’s Cup final.

Ionescu had 10 and shot 3-for-17 from the field, including 2-for-11 from deep.

Liberty coach Sandy Brondello said many players were in trouble.

Ionescu, whose voice was strained, said she “didn’t say a word” on the court.

Stewart propelled the Liberty (16-3, league-best) in the second half after they shot a brutal 27.8 percent in the first quarter and 30 percent in the second.

They trailed by 16 at one point in the first half and were still down by 14 with 1:40 left in the half before Stewart and Vandersloot sparked a run to pull the Liberty within 41-36 at the half.

Stewart, the two-time MVP, dominated in the third quarter, making three 3-pointers as the Dream released her too often at the top of the key.

She followed her shots for second-chance points and grabbed 12 rebounds to help limit the Dream in the paint.

Atlanta (7-10) shot 13-for-18 in the paint in the first half, but was just 5-for-14 in the second half.

“Early on, we weren’t as disruptive as we wanted to be and we were able to turn that around. … Just knowing where they’re trying to put the ball,” Stewart said of the improved work inside. “They’re trying to drive downhill. They’re trying to hit the ball in the paint … just being aware of that.”

Betnijah Laney-Hamilton had the decisive shot from far in the third quarter after Ionescu had passed her. Ionescu found her in the corner to take a 44-43 lead. That was the first time for Liberty since the fourth minute of the match.

Leonie Fiebich was also a star player in the final phase, scoring nine of her twelve points in the last quarter.

But the Liberty looked lost at the start.

At one point, Vandersloot threw the ball under the basket to Stewart, but nothing happened.

Ionescu was slow to make decisions and opted not to shoot when given space, instead making errant passes.

Former Liberty star Tina Charles — along with Allisha Gray — outplayed Charles’ former team in transition and in the paint, with Charles continually gaining the upper hand over Jones.

Charles, who played with the Liberty from 2014 to 2019, had 16 points; Gray counted 24.

“We started off slow. A little rusty, I guess,” Brondello said. “So we had to dig deep. We had to play as hard as we could and play the right way. We didn’t make a lot of shots in that first half. We had a couple open ones, but we just had to keep moving the ball and they started falling when we needed them.”