WNBA playoffs: Liberty get revenge against Aces in final rematch as Stewart stars

Breanna Stewart had 34 points and Sabrina Ionescu had 21 to help the New York Liberty beat the Las Vegas Aces 87-77 on Sunday in Game 1 of their semifinal series.

Jonkel Jones added 13 points and 12 rebounds for the Liberty. Game 2 of the best-of-five match-up is Tuesday night in New York. Kelsey Plum scored 24 points and A'ja Wilson added 21.

It was a rematch of last season's WNBA Finals which the Aces won in four games, including the championship in New York. The Liberty said they took a scar from that loss and used it as motivation all season. New York had the best record in the league and earned the top seed in the playoffs.

The Aces were the number one seed last season, so New York had to travel to Las Vegas for the first two games of the Finals. The Liberty returned home 0-2 down and could not regain their momentum.

New York came out strong behind Stewart on Sunday and led 28-21 after one quarter. Las Vegas trailed 37-34 with 4:11 left in the half before New York ended the second quarter on an 11-4 run to lead by 10 at the break. Stewart, who had 20 points in the opening 20 minutes, had six points in the outburst. He hit eight of his 10 shots in the first half.

Liberty scored the first five points of the third quarter and Stewart's three-pointer extended the lead to 62-44. After a time out, the Aces scored the next 12 points within six. Courtney Vandersloot finally ended the drought for New York with a layup that started a run to regain a nine-point advantage late in the third.

Las Vegas trailed nearly 75-67 until Ionescu hit a three-pointer with 7:34 left in the game and quickly pointed to Spike Lee, who was sitting courtside in his jersey. In Game 2 of the first-round series win over Atlanta, the basketball superfan gave the Liberty guard a high-five that he said “injected New York into my veins.”

In Sunday's other game, Marina Mabrey had 20 points and Alyssa Thomas added 17 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists as Connecticut defeated Minnesota in Game 1 of their semifinal series. DeJonai Carrington had 13 points and Dewanna Bonner had 10 points and 11 boards for the Suns.

Nafisa Collier, who averaged 40 points in the first round of the playoffs, led Minnesota with 19 points and nine rebounds. Bridget Carleton scored 17 and Kayla McBride scored 12.

Mabrey opened the fourth with his sixth three-pointer of the night, and Carrington scored on a putback to tie the score at 62 with seven minutes to play. Bonner hit a corner 3 and added a transition layup as the Suns went up by three.

After holding the Lynx without a basket for more than three minutes, Collier's driving layup cut the Suns' lead to 71-70 with 33.9 seconds left.