Breanna Stewart delivers on her Liberty promise as they bounce back to beat Fire
PORTLAND, Ore.— The Liberty capped off a stretch of playing four games in a week Thursday night with a comfortable 100-82 win against the Portland Fire.
Join Post Sports+ for exciting subscriber-only features, including real-time texting with Madeline Kenney about all things Liberty and WNBA.The Liberty (3-1) didn’t have a great first half.
But a third-quarter attack, led by Breanna Stewart, allowed New York to put the game away for good.The first 10 minutes after halftime was a promising turn of events, considering leading up to Thursday a troubling yet familiar trend had started to emerge in the Liberty’s first three games.Similar to a year ago, New York had been struggling in third quarters.That issue appeared to be a carryover into this campaign.Stewart said the team had to nip it in the bud — and it started with her.“When we have the lead, knowing that the other team is going to come out and try to punch first, that’s on me,” Stewart said after Tuesday’s stunning loss to the Fire.“And I’ll get the rest of the group really ready to go because … we’ve struggled with this in the past and we don’t want to have that continue.”Stewart made good on her promise Thursday.Stewart led the Liberty’s third-quarter onslaught.
She scored 11 of her team-high 22 points in the first 10 minutes after halftime.Rookie Pauline Astier joined in the attack, scoring seven of her 20 points in that frame, as she continues an impressive start to her WNBA career.The Liberty led 70-53 after the third and held on to the end.New York unsurprisingly got its lick back after being on the losing end of the Fire’s first win in franchise history.Fire coach Alex Samara expected this.
Before the game, he predicted the Liberty to come out and play with desperation.That’s not exactly what happened — at least early.The Liberty were all out of sorts to start.Ill-advised turnovers.Hesitation on offense.
Missed shots.Shoddy defense.The Liberty scored just 14 poi...