Liberty upset Lynx to advance to WNBA semifinals

New York Liberty eliminated the Minnesota Lynx 87-71 in Game 2 of their first-round series on Tuesday, completing a 2-0 sweep and advancing to the WNBA semifinals. The victory marked the first time an eighth-seed team has knocked out a No. 1 seed in the league’s postseason.

Jonquel Jones led the effort with 21 points and 13 rebounds, while Sabrina Ionescu contributed 18 points, seven assists and four three-pointers. Breanna Stewart played the full game, adding 21 points, five rebounds and four assists. The Liberty’s core trio accounted for or assisted on 70 of the team’s 87 points.

"It feels good," Jones said. "We’re not listening to outside noise. We understand that we can do a lot of great things … We feel we can play anybody and we can beat anybody, and that’s the mindset that we have moving forward."

Ionescu described the win as "absolutely the best they played all season" and added, "It’s not just get by but get better because there’s bigger goals that we have to accomplish. I feel like tonight we continue to take steps in the right direction, and obviously our best basketball is yet to come."

Stewart noted the team’s shift after early-season criticism, saying, "People were saying we’re supposed to be contending for a championship and this and we’re sucking … There always comes a moment in a season where it’s like, be who you are … We are an eight seed even though we don’t feel like it, and we need to be that."

Head coach Chris DeMarco said the team had focused on peaking at the end of the season, adding, "This was a tough year for us with injuries and a lot of other stuff going on, and I feel like we’ve been trending in the right direction for a while now. We’re ready to play and we knew we had to be at our best at the end of September and October."

The Liberty will face the winner of the Atlanta Dream-Washington Mystics series in the semifinals.