Liberty beat Lynx, 80-77, on Sabrina Ionescu’s long, late 3-pointer to pull within one victory of WNBA title

MINNEAPOLIS – For two days, the Minnesota Lynx talked about starting fast. Living life trailing big early in games wasn’t the way to go.

And then, to start Game 3 of the WNBA Finals, in a packed Target Center filled with a team-record 19,521 fans, against the New York Liberty, the Lynx roared out of the gate.

But then they forgot to finish.

Sabrina Ionescu hit a long 3-pointer with 1 second remaining, and Breanna Stewart scored 30 points as the Liberty beat the Lynx 80-77 to take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-five series.

Game 4 is Friday at Target Center. If the Liberty win, they’re the champions. If the Lynx win, a deciding game would be Sunday in New York.

Stewart’s game mirrored that of her team. She scored just eight points in the first half, but 22 in the second.

Up one point entering the fourth quarter, the Lynx offense completely broke down. Minnesota made just 5 of 18 shots in the final 10 minutes. After shooting 50% and scoring 28 first-quarter points, the Lynx went 19 for 55 the rest of the way, scoring 49 points over the final 30 minutes.

The Lynx led 73-69 with 2:25 left when Liberty center Jonquel Jones hit a corner 3-pointer. After Napheesa Collier missed at the other end, Jones scored again, giving the Liberty a 74-73 lead, its first since the opening quarter. After another Lynx miss, Ionescu hit a 3-pointer with 55.6 seconds left to put the Liberty up four.

Out of a timeout, Lynx forward Bridget Carleton scored with 34.6 seconds left. The Lynx got a stop with 20.6 seconds left. Collier was fouled and made both free throws with 16 seconds left to tie the game.

But Ionescu hit a shot 5 feet outside the 3-point line, to win it.

Jones, Leonie Fiebich and Ionescu each scored 13 for the Liberty.

Collier scored 22 points with nine rebounds, and Kayla McBride had 19, Carleton 14 and Courtney Williams 12 for the Lynx.

The game started well for the Lynx. Down 5-2, they went on a 12-0 roll. Fueled by three New York turnovers – which led to seven of those 12 points – and led by McBride’s two 3-pointers, Minnesota took a 14-5 lead on Collier’s midrange, a basket that came after consecutive offensive rebounds.

It just kept going. Turning turnovers into points – the Lynx had a 14-2 edge on points after turnovers in the quarter – the Lynx lead grew to 26-11 on Carleton’s 3-pointer with 1:20 left.

But the Liberty outscored the Lynx 7-2 over the final 80 seconds to make it a 10-point game entering the second quarter.

The same thing happened in the second quarter. Or, rather, the same thing happened at the end of the second quarter.

In a back-and-forth 10 minutes, the Lynx went up 41-28 on Collier’s jumper with 3:14 left in the half.