The Tribune

By TENAJH SWEETING

Tribune Sports Reporter

tsweeting@tribunemedia.net

GAME one of the Women’s National Basketball Association Finals went down to the wire but the Minnesota Lynx would take the game 95-93 in overtime of the best-of-five championship series at the Barclays Centre last night.

Grand Bahamian Jonquel “JJ” Jones vowed to be more aggressive in the WNBA Finals after coming up short against the 2024 Commissioner’s Cup champions in three out of their four regular season contests.

Jones set the tone for the Liberty, stuffing the stat sheet with a game-high 24 points and 10 rebounds to pair with three assists. 

Last year’s league MVP Breanna Stewart put up 18 points, nine rebounds and three assists but she struggled on offence. She shot 6-for-21 from the field and 2-for-6 from three.

Three-point specialist Sabrina Ionescu had the hot hand for most of the WNBA postseason but had a dismal shooting performance against the Lynx last night. She finished the contest with 19 points, five rebounds and four steals but shot 8-for-26 in the game.

Despite leading for most of the game, efficient shooting was the difference maker in the loss for the New York Liberty.

While the Lynx shot 50.7 per cent on field goals and 40.9 per cent on threes, the Libs shot 37.8 per cent and 39.4 per cent on their side of the ball.

The home team were in charge 68-61 through three quarters but Minnesota managed to push the game into overtime after outscoring the Libs 23-16 in the fourth quarter. New York had the advantage 83-80 with less than 20 seconds to go in regulation. Courtney Williams canned a go-ahead three off an assist from Alanna Smith to tie the game at 83 apiece.

She was fouled during the play and was successful on the four-point play to put the Lynx up by 1 (84-83) but the Liberty’s Stewart split a pair of free throws to force OT.

In the extra period of play, the Liberty missed their first six buckets while Minnesota got ahead 88-84. Jones would end the scoring drought by knocking down a corner three with under two minutes remaining.

Williams came up clutch once again and answered back to shift the score to 91-87, favouring Minnesota.

The Grand Bahamian centre picked off a bad pass made by Minnesota’s Bridget Carleton and converted it to two points.

With the score knotted at 93, Napheese Collier stunned the Libs with a crafty 12-foot two to steal the game one win.

Former MVP Stewart had a chance at a last minute layup but she missed her attempt.

Willams had a team-high 23 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists. Collier dropped 21 points, 8 rebounds and three steals.

New York will have a chance to even the series on Sunday at home. The game starts at 3pm.