Breanna Stewart rebounded from one of the worst games of her career with a stellar effort, scoring 28 points with 14 rebounds and seven assists to lift the New York Liberty to an 89-71 win over the Phoenix Mercury, who were playing without an injured Brittney Griner on Sunday.
“I wanted to make an assertive effort to be aggressive,” Stewart said. “Especially at the start of the game and hopefully have everyone follow. Sometimes the ball doesn’t fall in the basket and that’s what happened last game. Law of averages, things kind of even out a little bit.”
Griner missed her second straight game with a hip injury she suffered against Seattle on Tuesday. The All-Star center received a warm standing ovation from the crowd when a video was played of her at the first timeout.
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With Griner potentially playing in her first game in New York since returning to the U.S. after being detained for 10 months in Russia last year, the Liberty drew a sellout crowd of 9,278.
Phoenix (2-8) was also missing Diana Taurasi because of a hamstring injury.
New York had its own injury issues with Sabrina Ionescu missing her second straight game with a hamstring injury. Even without Ionescu, the Liberty (7-3) had more than enough to handle the Mercury.
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Stewart, who made just one of 14 field-goal attempts on Tuesday in New York’s loss to Atlanta, was aggressive from the start. She hit an array of shots from inside and out. She finished the opening half with 23 points as New York built a 53-34 lead on Phoenix.
Phoenix cut a 19-point deficit early in the fourth quarter to 72-64 with 6:01 left as Sophie Cunningham scored nine points during an 11-0 run.
Stewart ended the drought for New York by hitting a free throw and then Betnijah Laney made a jumper to restore the double-digit advantage. Phoenix never threatened the rest of the way.
“Our players just don’t quit,” Phoenix coach Vanessa Nygaard said. “They had a lot of pride. They’re really talented basketball players and it doesn’t matter who’s available for us, we’re going to battle.”
Cunningham finished with 27 points to lead the Mercury.
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