New York Liberty ousts Las Vegas Aces to reach WNBA Finals

CNN
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The New York Liberty ended the Las Vegas Aces’ quest for a historic three-game sweep, securing a 76-62 win in Game 4 of their semifinal series on Sunday.

With the victory, the Liberty secured the best-of-five series 3-1, sent the two-time defending champions into a corner and secured a place in the WNBA Finals for the second year in a row.

Leading the way for New York was two-time MVP Breanna Stewart, who posted a dominant double-double with 19 points and 14 rebounds. Sabrina Ionescu, the former No. 1 pick, added 22 points and seven rebounds in a comeback effort after scoring just four points in Game 3.

“It’s Vegas. “Everyone knows we’re going to do our best,” Stewart said after the game. “They got us last year and we wanted to make sure we kept going, got back to the finals and taken care of what we didn’t do last year.”

Last season, the Liberty lost to the Aces in four games in the WNBA Finals. This season, however, it was a different story for top-seeded New York, who edged Las Vegas 6-1 including the playoffs.

The Liberty started the series strong and took a commanding 2-0 lead, but were unable to prevail against the Aces in Game 3. Las Vegas secured a win and set a WNBA record with its 12th consecutive home playoff win.

However, since no team in WNBA history has been able to overcome a 2-0 deficit in a best-of-five playoff series, the Aces had great opportunities heading into Game 4.

Sunday’s game was closely contested throughout, but after the Aces took a 3-0 lead with the first basket of the game, they didn’t want to take the lead for the rest of the game.

Entering the fourth quarter with a 53-51 lead, the Liberty went on a 16-2 run to open the final frame and pull away from the Aces.

Three-time MVP A’ja Wilson scored 19 points and 10 rebounds while Kelsey Plum contributed 17 points in the Aces’ loss.

Despite the big win, Ionescu emphasized the team’s focus on bringing home the franchise’s first WNBA title.

“We haven’t done anything yet, I think we all understand that,” Ionescu said. “We want to come out and continue to be the best team like we have been all year. We’re still three wins away and that’s really important to understand. We had to come out and strike because nothing had been given to us yet.

The Liberty next play against the winner of the semifinal match between the Connecticut Sun and the Minnesota Lynx, which ends in a 2-2 draw.

Game 1 of the WNBA Finals will take place on Thursday, October 10th.