The New York Liberty broke character to earn one of the most monumental victories of this young WNBA season.
BROOKLYN—A three (and then some) often grows in Brooklyn, but the New York Liberty broke character in one of the more monumental victories on the WNBA’s 30th ledger.
The Liberty’s latest borne torch was a slow-burn effort, as New York nicked away at a dozen-point deficit to take an 83-75 decision from the Indiana Fever on Saturday night at Barclays Center. The seafoam savants earned a primetime triumph despite hitting just two three-pointers on 18 attempts, marking the first time they’ve prevailed with such a box score with a minimum of 15 such tries since 2000.
Known as a team with a flair for finesse, the Liberty posted what likely stands as their most emphatic victory of the season. It ends a seven-game homestand on a high note and sits in the driver’s seat for the East’s bid in the Commissioner’s Cup Final since they’re the conference’s only undefeated team in the in-season competition play after the weekend.
“It’s massive for us. It builds character and it’s a game we might not have won early in the season,” New York head coach Chris DeMarco said in the aftermath. “We found a way. We battled, we got to the foul line, we made plays defensively.”
“It’s going to happen. I thought we generated great three-point looks that we just missed. We missed layups, and those are like those will turn a game. What happens when you miss a layup or you miss a three and don’t get the offensive rebound? What’s your transition looking like? We made two, three, four plays that’ll swing a game. I thought we had that tonight. I think I think we really hustled after mistakes and missed shot.”
Free Over Three
Winners of four in a row, New York (7-4) continues to claw its way back up the WNBA leaderboard as its infirmary continues to resemble an All-Star Game press release. While mostly healthy at the end of the first quarter of the season, the team continues to miss Sabrina Ionescu. The tenured sniper has appeared in just one game this season, dealing with back soreness in addition to the ankle injury sustained in the team’s latter preseason game.
The latest Ionescu-less triumph saw the Liberty acknowledge the fact that the best things in life are free: New York got to the foul line on 40 occasions, sinking all but seven in the comeback effort. Breanna Stewart was particularly busy in that effort, breaking the franchise’s single-game singles record she shared with Kia Nurse with an 18-of-21 tally. She was 13-of-15 in the fourth quarter alone, part of metropolitan adaptation that acknowledged the deep ball wasn’t falling.
“I think it was probably like two separate instances: knowing that we’re down, really kind of getting into the paint and seeing what that opens up,” Stewart said of the Liberty’s revamped penetration. “In the fourth, they got into the bonus early, and, with that, it’s like, all right, we need to kind of go at them and really get to the free throw line and become the aggressors, because I think, in the first half, we weren’t. It’s hard to guard somebody when they’re coming at you full speed, and there’s so many offensive threats and weapons like spread across the corners.”
Saturday served as a Stewart showcase in more ways than one: several New York veterans challenged mentioned that Stewart personally challenged them to find new ways to win and that she wasn’t going to take a lack of shooting as an excuse.
“My message was, we need to wake up,” Stewart said of her impromptu motivational techniques. “You can’t go through the motions. You can’t go through motions in life, you can’t go through the motions on the court. It just doesn’t work. You have to kind of respect the team that we’re playing against and really leave it out on the line.
“We didn’t shoot the ball well. Like, f*** it, honestly. We want to win games, whether they’re pretty or they’re ugly and that’s what’s going to be the separator down the line, is who can get the win when things aren’t going your way, when things aren’t going well and we continue to fight back.”
Singles Night
To Stewart’s point, New York struggled to keep pace with the infectious Fever in the early going despite holding Aliyah Boston, Caitlin Clark, and Kelsey Mitchell in relative check. Perhaps defining the game’s gritty nature was a breakout from physical stalwart Monique Billings, an Indiana newcomer that controlled the pace on both sides of the ball.
The tide began to turn once New York fell behind by 12, a lead that persisted through the three-minute mark of the third quarter. From there, New York forced four steals over the closing stanzas to get the a crowd fighting off the usual brand of Clark-supporting invaders back into the game. The Liberty swiped six steals in the period alone after taking away but eight in their last two games combined.
BREANNA STEWART TONIGHT
• 30 POINTS
• 8 REBOUNDS
• 4 STEALS
• 6/15 FG pic.twitter.com/z6Cw7rruFW— Women’s Hoops Network (@WomensHoops_USA) June 7, 2026
Nine quick points, headlined by a successful and-one for Satou Sabally (13 points off the bench), to set the tone for the remainder of the game. In addition to the takeaways, New York also outrebounded Indiana 6-2 on the offensive glass over the final 13 minutes and lost just two turnovers to take away one of the Fever’s biggest strengths (Indiana was tied with Minnesota in points off turnovers per game entering Saturday).
Once the Liberty was able to hold a consistent lead, traditional metropolitan finesse emerged in the climax: New York had one fourth quarter field goal entering the final three minutes but rookie sensation Pauline Astier remedied that with dramatic doubles against Clark. In between, Astier had the helper on a Jonquel Jones double that was all part of a late 15-4 run that sent Brooklyn into hysterics.
“She’s just a really good player and I keep having to remind myself that she’s a rookie in our league,” Jones said of Astier, a French WNBA rookie that’s keeping Ionescu’s starting five spot warm. “I’m very impressed with her. I like the way that she approaches the game, not just on the court, but off the court. She has a very level head. I think she’s very mature for her age, and I think even, too, I think she’s a great three-point shooter. I think the more we can pour into her and just let her know that we’re okay with her shooting those shots, and she can step into those confidently, I think she can do that at a high level too. So I’m a big, I’m a big Pauline fan.”
Geoff Magliocchetti is on X @GeoffJMags
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