WNBA Eastern Conference Player of the Month Breanna Stewart leads the New York Liberty into Friday’s game against the Minnesota Lynx in Minneapolis.
The Liberty (20-6) are enjoying their best start to a season in franchise history. New York has won 10 of its last 12 games to put itself in second place in the WNBA, four games behind the Las Vegas Aces.
Minnesota (13-14) gave the Liberty one of the losses in that span, winning 88-83 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn on July 28.
Stewart led the league with 24.5 points per game in July, adding 8.4 rebounds and 3.3 assists over the Liberty’s 11 games. She shot 45.3 percent from the field and 41 percent from 3-point range in that span.
She joined Maya Moore (2014, Lynx) as the only players to record 500 points, 200 rebounds and 50 made 3-pointers through the first 25 games of a season.
“Just wanting to really be aggressive, make sure that we set the tone,” Stewart said about how the Liberty have come on strong as of late.
New York is on a five-game road winning streak. The Liberty are the second highest-scoring team in the WNBA (88.2 points per game) and sixth on defense (82.0 ppg allowed).
They are also No. 2 in the WNBA in rebounding (38.0 per game) and lead the league in 3-pointers made per game with 10.9.
Minnesota is coming off a 79-69 loss at the Connecticut Sun on Tuesday night.
Lindsay Allen scored 16 points and Kayla McBride added 15 points for Minnesota, which had a three-game winning streak snapped.
Diamond Miller, the WNBA Rookie of the Month for July, had 13 points and six assists.
“She’s not afraid of the big moment,” Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve said after Miller scored 22 points to beat New York last week. “Lots of times, rookies can be intimidated. She was excited for the moment.”
–Field Level Media