The New York Liberty took a 2-1 lead in the 2024 WNBA Finals with a thrilling 80-77 victory in Game 3 on Wednesday night. Sabrina Ionescu, who was having a rough game until the final minutes of the fourth quarter, hit a game-winning 3-pointer with one second remaining. The Liberty are now one win away from the first title in franchise history.
As expected, the Lynx came out on fire behind a racous crowd inside Target Center. They built a double-digit lead in less than six minutes, and went up by as many as 15 in the first half. But in an inverse of Games 1 and 2, the Liberty chipped away and made it an eight-point deficit at halftime.
Coming out of the break, the Liberty began chipping away at the lead thanks to Sabrina Stewart, who poured in 14 points in the third quarter alone to make it a one-point game heading into the fourth. From there it was a tense battle, as both teams struggled to find much consistent offense.
With just over two minutes to play, the Lynx were clinging to a four-point lead when Jonquel Jones and Sabrina Ionescu took over the game. Jones buried a 3-pointer, then scored off a sweet feed from Ionescu to give the Liberty their first lead since it was 5-4 in the first quarter. Ionescu then drained a 3 of her own to put the Liberty up by four with less than a minute to play.
The Lynx came roaring back, however, and tied things up with a Bridget Carleton layup and two free throws from Napheesa Collier. That set up the final possession, and Ionescu's game-winner. She had the chance to wind the clock all the way down, and buried another triple from just inside the logo. Down on the other end, Kayla McBride couldn't get off a heave at the buzzer, and the Liberty escaped with a hard-fought win.
Ionescu finished with 13 points, five rebounds and six assists, but while she played hero down the stretch, it was Stewart who brought the Liberty to that point. The two-time MVP went off for 30 points, 11 rebounds and four blocks to record the first 30-point game in the Finals since she herself had 37 in Game 1 of the 2020 Finals.