Breanna Stewart scored 32 points and Sabrina Ionescu added 25 as the New York Liberty won 98-85 against the Seattle Storm on Friday night.
Leonie Fiebich contributed 12 points for the Liberty (27-7), who recovered from a loss to the last-place Los Angeles Sparks during their three-game road trip on the West Coast.
Jonquel Jones, who missed the previous game due to illness and was still not fully well, grabbed 11 rebounds as the Liberty controlled the boards 45-17. New York also had 17 offensive rebounds.
New York shot 50.7% and made 12 of 26 three-pointers, which helped balance out the 18 turnovers Seattle turned into 24 points.
Seattle (19-12) fell into a tie with Las Vegas for fourth place but secured a playoff spot due to losses by Atlanta and Chicago.
Seattle shot 46.5% from the field but struggled in the fourth quarter, making only 5 of 16 shots. Skylar Diggins-Smith scored 26 points but only managed two in the fourth quarter, along with seven assists. Jewell Loyd added 20 points and Nneka Ogwumike had 15.
The game appeared to be New York’s when Ionescu scored an unusual basket midway through the fourth quarter to make it 89-79. During a drive to the basket, she fell while attempting a contested layup. The rebound came back to her, and from her knees, she banked it in.
The Storm cut the lead to six with under three minutes remaining, but Fiebich grabbed two offensive rebounds, hit a 3-pointer, and Ionescu added six more points to seal the win.
The first quarter saw seven ties and seven lead changes, ending with the Liberty ahead 27-26. New York then scored the first 11 points of the second quarter, including three 3-pointers, the last two by Stewart.
