PHOENIX \u2014 Breanna Stewart had no doubt. From the moment she woke up Friday morning, the adrenaline already pumping through her veins, she knew the outcome of Game 3.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She turned over in bed, grabbed her phone and texted her wife, Marta, two words: \u201cI\u2019m ready.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
She certainly was. But when it mattered most, when their season was on the line, the Liberty needed more from her teammates. They couldn\u2019t deliver.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Stewart, who finished with 30 points and nine rebounds on a sprained left MCL, scored all 14 of New York\u2019s points in the fourth quarter. She went 4-for-7 from the field, while her teammates went 0-for-8.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Against this Phoenix team on this night, it wasn\u2019t enough. The Liberty needed more clutch plays. More stops. More help. Instead, they\u2019re heading home after a 79-73 defeat with their bid to repeat ending in the first round.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s tough,\u201d Stewart said. \u201cOnly one team gets to feel good at the end of their season and this year we weren\u2019t that team and it really, really hurts and I think it\u2019ll continue to hurt for days, weeks, months from now on.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Breanna Stewart of the New York Liberty handles the ball during the game against the Phoenix Mercury on September 19, 2025 at PHX Arena in Phoenix, Arizona. NBAE via Getty Images<\/p>\n
Stewart brushed off questions about her bum knee at shootaround.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt doesn\u2019t matter,\u201d Stewart said. \u201cI told everybody, I\u2019m like, \u2018I don\u2019t care. I don\u2019t want to talk about how it\u2019s feeling because I\u2019m going to play.\u2019 And that\u2019s the focus of what we\u2019re going to do on the court \u2014 not how I\u2019m feeling.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Stewart laid it all on the line like she promised she would. She accounted for 15 of the Liberty\u2019s 26 free-throw attempts. She led all scorers. She made two of her three 3-point attempts despite this being her shakiest campaign to date from deep.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sabrina Ionescu of the New York Liberty looks on during the game against the Phoenix Mercury on September 19, 2025 at PHX Arena in Phoenix, Arizona. NBAE via Getty Images<\/p>\n
She did everything she could until the final buzzer to try to will the Liberty to a win and a chance at survival.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt describes what kind of player she is \u2014 not really giving up, ever,\u201d Leonie Fiebich said. \u201cShe can put any team on her back at any time. She has all the trust in the world from us players and she did what she could tonight.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Jonquel Jones said Stewart was simply \u201camazing.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s dealing with a lot with her body and to see her go out there and be able to play so physically and really just carry our team and propel us to be able to play in such a close game like it was, amazing,\u201d Jones said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
DeWanna Bonner of the Phoenix Mercury fouls Breanna Stewart #30 of the New York Liberty during the second quarter during Game Three of the first round of the WNBA playoffs at PHX Arena on September 19, 2025 in Phoenix, Arizona. Getty Images<\/p>\n
Sabrina Ionescu was also good. She scored 22 points \u2014 most of which came in the second and third quarters.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She also had six rebounds and four assists.\u00a0<\/p>\n
New York clawed, scratched and fought for most of Friday night. But the Mercury always found a way to respond.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cM-V-P\u201d chants broke out for Alyssa Thomas as she stepped to the free-throw line in the game\u2019s final minutes.\u00a0<\/p>\n
When Ionescu\u2019s Hail Mary 3 late in the game missed the mark, she untucked her jersey and pushed her hair back.\u00a0<\/p>\n
New York Liberty guard Natasha Cloud (9) drives against Phoenix Mercury guard Monique Akoa Makani (8) during the second half of Game 3 in the first round of the WNBA basketball playoffs, Friday, Sept. 19, 2025, in Phoenix. AP<\/p>\n
It was over.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Ionescu finished with 22 points, six rebounds and four assists.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Natasha Cloud\u2019s three-point play put the Liberty within one of the Mercury heading into the fourth quarter.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCovering the Liberty like never before\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSign up for Madeline Kenney’s Inside the Liberty, a weekly Sports+ newsletter.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\tThank you\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
But after exchanging blows, the difference maker ultimately was a 7-0 run that gave the Mercury a 72-66 lead with 5:26 left in the fourth.\u00a0<\/p>\n
That six-point hole became too steep a climb.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Alyssa Thomas of the Phoenix Mercury celebrates during the first quarter against the New York Liberty during Game 3. Getty Images<\/p>\n
Stewart fought until the end. She made an off-balanced jumper after being fouled by Satou Sabally, turning it into a three-point play.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She then made a hook shot over DeWanna Bonner to cut the Mercury\u2019s edge to three.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Bonner\u2019s jumper off an inbounds pass bounced in to put the Mercury up 76-71 with 1:13 left.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Stewart made a pair of free throws to keep the Liberty\u2019s hopes and season alive.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Liberty didn\u2019t get enough from Jones, Kennedy Burke or Fiebich.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Jones had only three points on 1 of 10 shooting. Burke, who shot 41.4 percent from deep this season, went 0-for-6 from deep.\u00a0<\/p>\n
New York Liberty center Jonquel Jones (35) shoots over Phoenix Mercury forward DeWanna Bonner, left, during the second half of Game 3 in the first round of the WNBA basketball playoffs, Friday, Sept. 19, 2025, in Phoenix. AP<\/p>\n
It wasn\u2019t a good series for Jones, who didn\u2019t reach double digit scoring for the seventh time over the last eight games \u2014 her longest such stretch since 2016.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The desperation from both teams was palpable.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Physicality was upped. The tension was thicker than stale rice krispies bar. Both teams exchanged verbal barbs.\u00a0<\/p>\n
DeWanna Bonner of the Phoenix Mercury & Breanna Stewart #30 of the New York Liberty hug after the game during Game 3 Round One of the 2025 WNBA Playoffs on September 19, 2025 at PHX Arena in Phoenix, Arizona. NBAE via Getty Images<\/p>\n
In the end, though, Thomas couldn\u2019t be stopped. She registered arguably her most remarkable triple-double to date, with 20 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists in an elimination game.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Satou Sabally had 23 points and 12 rebounds. Kahleah Copper added 12 points and nine boards.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Liberty\u2019s road ended Friday in Phoenix with no regrets. But the core intends to run it back.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201c[I\u2019m] really proud of the group,\u201d Stewart said. \u201cThis team is more than resilient with all the sh-t that we\u2019ve gone through this season and we left it all out.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PHOENIX \u2014 Breanna Stewart had no doubt. From the moment she woke up Friday morning, the adrenaline already…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":241321,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,5336,405,403,1520,5226,5225,5228,5227,1502,62,67,586,132,5230,68,2969,232,105313],"class_list":{"0":"post-241320","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-breanna-stewart","10":"tag-new-york","11":"tag-new-york-city","12":"tag-new-york-liberty","13":"tag-newyork","14":"tag-newyorkcity","15":"tag-ny","16":"tag-nyc","17":"tag-phoenix-mercury","18":"tag-sports","19":"tag-united-states","20":"tag-united-states-of-america","21":"tag-unitedstates","22":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","23":"tag-us","24":"tag-usa","25":"tag-wnba","26":"tag-wnba-playoffs"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115236396357554748","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/241320","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=241320"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/241320\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/241321"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=241320"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=241320"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=241320"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}