NY Liberty celebrate first WNBA title
New York, (Oct 20-2024) — The New York Liberty celebrate first WNBA title in franchise history. After coming up on the losing end of five WNBA Finals, the Liberty captured their first championship, beating the Minnesota Lynx 67-62 in overtime of the decisive Game 5 Sunday night at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
The Lynx had won a hard-fought Game 4 Friday in Minneapolis to force a winner-take-all game in the best-of-5 finals.
Jonquel Jones led New York with 17 points and six rebounds, and Breanna Stewart 13 points and 15 rebounds. Napheesa paced Minnesota with 22 points and seven rebounds, while Kayla McBride added 21 points, five rebounds and five assists
It’s been a long road for the Liberty, one of the original teams when the WNBA debuted in 1997. New York reached the league’s first final that season, losing to the Houston Comets, and were dispatched by the Comets again in 1999 and 2000 before losing to the Los Angeles Sparks in 2002. It then took the Liberty 21 years to make it back to the Finals, but they couldn’t overcome the Las Vegas Aces last year.
It means everything,” Stewart continued. “I wanted to come here, and I wanted to be the person. We fought through because we wanted to bring it home for this city and this crowd.”
Jonquel Jones named WNBA Finals MVP
Center Jonquel Jones won the individual award following a 17-point performance in Game 5. Jones shot 5 of 10 from the field while collecting six rebounds and one assist in 42 minutes of play.
