Stewart, Laney-Hamilton deliver as Liberty level series with Lynx

NEW YORK —  Breanna Stewart scored 21 points and Betnijah Laney-Hamilton added 20 to help the New York Liberty beat the Minnesota Lynx 80-66 on Sunday in Game 2 of the WNBA Finals.

The win evened the series 1-1 as it shifts to Minnesota for Game 3 on Wednesday night.

Just like Game 1, New York built a double-digit lead in the first half, only to see it evaporate. This time they didn’t completely collapse.

Minnesota was down nine early in the fourth before getting within 68-66 on Courtney Williams’ layup with 3:40 left in the game. Those were the last points Minnesota would score.

Laney-Hamilton answered with a 3-pointer in the corner to start a 12-0 run to ruin any chance of another Lynx comeback. Stewart’s putback with 57 seconds left gave New York a double-digit advantage. Stewart missed a free throw with 0.8 seconds left in regulation of Game 1 that would have lifted New York to victory in that contest.

“I couldn’t wait to come back here Sunday and change the narrative a little bit,” Stewart said. “Thank you guys for having our back.”

The two-time MVP wouldn’t let the Liberty lose Game 2. She also had 8 rebounds, 5 assists and a finals-record 7 steals. She joins Alyssa Thomas in 2019 as the only players to record 20 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists and 5 steals in a Finals game, according to ESPN Research.

“The moment the game ended Thursday night I was looking forward to Sunday to change things, change the narrative a little bit,” Stewart said. “Be the same I was and be obviously better.”

Napheesa Collier had 16 points and Williams added 15 for the Lynx.

Once again, the game drew a sellout crowd of 18,046 that included Jennifer Hudson, Katie Couric, Fat Joe and UConn coach Geno Auriemma. Auriemma had rooting interests on both teams with Stewart and Collier.

With the win, New York avoided going down 0-2 and having to pull off a historic comeback. All 20 teams that had been down 2-0 in the best-of-five Finals had lost the series.

New York led 23-21 before scoring the final eight points of the first quarter to go up 31-21 at the break. Sabrina Ionescu had 10 of her 15 points in the opening 10 minutes and Stewart added seven.

The Liberty extended the lead to 46-31 before Minnesota closed to 10 at the half.

The Lynx got within 57-53 near the end of the third quarter before Stewart hit two free throws, had a massive block on the other end and then capped it off making a jumper from the quarter to give New York a 61-53 advantage heading to the fourth.

The Liberty led 64-55 early in the fourth before the Lynx scored 11 of the next 15 to briefly get within striking distance.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.