The Liberty pulled away late in Game 2; Ace on the edge

NEW YORK — Sabrina Ionescu scored 24 points and the New York Liberty beat the Las Vegas Aces 88-84 on Tuesday night to take a 2-0 lead in the best-of-five semifinal series.

Game 3 takes place Friday night in Las Vegas, with the two-time defending champion Aces trying to avoid being swept by the team they lost to in the WNBA Finals last year.

No team in WNBA postseason history has gone 2-0 to win a best-of-five playoff series. And only the Phoenix Mercury managed to force a Game 5 against the Seattle Storm in 2018.

Tuesday's contest was tied at 81 before Ionescu hit a jumper with 1:15 left to give New York a two-point lead. Both teams had chances before Tiffany Hayes was fouled with 16.9 seconds left on a jump ball.

Hayes hit the first of two free throws to make it a one-point game. New York secured the rebound, and Ionescu was fouled with 11.6 seconds left and hit just one free throw to make it 84-82.

Las Vegas had a chance to tie it, but the ball went out of bounds on the sideline with 10.5 seconds to play — and after New York challenged the call that it was the Aces' ball, the officials overturned the decision and awarded the ball.

Ionescu then hit two free throws to make it a two-possession game. A'ja Wilson answered with a jumper with 5.6 seconds left, before Breanna Stewart hit two free throws with less than a second left to seal the win.

Stewart finished with 15 points, 8 assists and 7 rebounds for the Liberty.

Wilson scored 24 points for the Aces, and Jackie Young added 17.

The Liberty led 69-62 heading into the final period before the Aces tied the score at 81 on Alisha Clark's 3-pointer with 1:31 left behind Wilson.

After a rough start in Game 1, the Aces led 27-22 after the first quarter thanks to a strong opening 10 minutes from Chelsea Gray. He had just four points in the Game 1 loss, and Las Vegas coach Becky Hammon said she would talk to her star guard. Gray responded by coming out aggressively with 10 points in the first quarter.

The teams went back and forth, and Las Vegas led 40-37 with 2:33 left in the half before Ionescu hit two 3-pointers on a three-point play by Liberty forward Kayla Thornton to give New York a 46-40 lead. The benefit at halftime drew loud cheers from the sellout crowd, which included Carmelo Anthony, Alicia Keys, Robin Roberts, Colin Kaepernick and Gayle King.

Liberty great Teresa Weatherspoon was also in attendance. Last week he was fired by the Chicago Sky as their coach. Weatherspoon received a loud ovation from the fans when he was shown on the video screen in the fourth quarter.

Fans are not the only ones coming to watch the series in person. Game 1 averaged 929,000 viewers on TV. It was the most-watched WNBA semifinal game in 22 years.

Aces beat center Kia Stokes with 9.5 seconds left in the third quarter. He was chasing a loose ball out of bounds and fell down the court after fouling a loose ball. He was down for a few minutes before being helped back to the locker room. The team said he suffered a possible concussion.