By Stephen Ur –
The New York Liberty hosted the Las Vegas Aces in Game 1 of the 2024 WNBA Conference Finals at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, NY on Sunday afternoon. Both teams were coming off first-round sweeps against the Atlanta Dream and Seattle Storm respectively.
A Breanna Stewart three-pointer with 2:33 left in the first quarter gave the Liberty a 22-11 lead. The Aces would close the gap through the remainder of the quarter, and the Liberty led 28-21.
Vegas would then close it to a 32-30 game with 5:38 in the half before the Liberty pulled away again, taking a 46-34 lead after two foul shots by Breanna Stewart with 1:40 in the half. They would lead 48-38 at halftime as the two teams combine for six points in the final 100 seconds.
It was closely contested third and fourth quarter with the Aces outscoring the Liberty 24-23 in the third and New York outscoring Las Vegas 16-15 in the fourth en route to a 87-77 opening win.
Stewart led the Liberty with 34 points on 12 of 19 shooting and 8 of 9 from the free throw line. Sabrina Ionescu scored 21 points, and her and Stewart shot 50 percent from three, 3 for 6 and 2 for 4 respectively.
Game 2 of the series will be played Tuesday night at Barclays Center in Brooklyn. Tip-off time has yet to be determined.
Sports Insider Daily 