Breanna Stewart recorded 27 points and nine rebounds and the New York Liberty clinched a spot in the semifinals with a 90-85 overtime victory over the visiting Washington Mystics on Tuesday night.
Jonquel Jones added 19 points and 14 rebounds and Betnijah Laney also scored 19 points as the second-seeded Liberty prevailed in Game 2 of the best-of-three first-round series. New York won Game 1, 90-75 on Friday.
Natasha Cloud scored a career-high 33 points and also had nine assists, six rebounds and four steals for the seventh-seeded Mystics. Brittney Sykes had 14 points and 12 rebounds and Ariel Atkins scored 13 points.
The Liberty will face either the Connecticut Sun or Minnesota Lynx in the semifinals.
New York moved ahead in the extra period on Laney’s jumper with 3:56 remaining. Courtney Vandersloot followed with four straight points to make it 84-79 with 2:29 left.
Washington twice moved within one before Stewart made two free throws to give the Liberty an 88-85 lead with 11.8 seconds remaining. Atkins missed a 3-pointer with about seven seconds left before Stewart wrapped it up with two more free throws with 4.4 seconds to play.
In regulation, Jones threw a bad pass that was stolen by Cloud, who was fouled with 27.3 seconds left and made both free throws to give Washington a 76-74 lead. However, Jones made two free throws of her own with 11.3 seconds left as the game went into overtime.
Elena Delle Donne had 11 points and Myisha Hines-Allen scored 10 for Washington, which shot 40 percent from the field and made 8 of 26 shots from 3-point range.
Sabrina Ionescu had 11 points and nine rebounds for New York, which shot 42 percent and was a subpar 4 of 23 from behind the arc.
Washington trailed 46-35 at halftime before holding New York to 13 third-quarter points to move within three. Sykes and Cloud opened the final quarter with treys to give the Mystics a 62-59 lead.
After the Liberty moved back ahead by one, Washington scored seven straight points. Cloud capped the burst with back-to-back baskets to give the Mystics a 69-63 with 4:33 left.
But New York later scored nine straight points to take a 74-71 lead on Stewart’s basket with 45.8 seconds left. Sykes connected on a 3-pointer with 33.5 seconds left to tie it.
–Field Level Media
