NEW YORK (AP) — Brianna Stewart rebounded from one of the worst games of her career with a stellar effort, scoring 28 points along with 14 rebounds and seven assists to lift the New York Liberty to an 89-71 win Sunday over the Phoenix Mercury, who were playing without an injury to Britney. Grenier.
Griner missed her The second consecutive game with a thigh injury It struggled against Seattle on Tuesday. The All-Star Center received a standing ovation from the crowd when a video of her was played the first time. Phoenix (2-8) also missed Diana Taurasi with a hamstring injury.
New York (7-3) has had its own injury woes with Sabrina Ionescu missing her second straight game with a hamstring injury.
Stewart was aggressive from the start. She hit a combination of in-and-out shots, finishing the first half with 23 points for New York’s lead 53-34.
Phoenix pulled out to 72-64 with 6:01 remaining as Sophie Cunningham scored nine points during an 11-0 run. Cunningham finished with 27 points, leading the Mercury.
Stewart ended New York’s drought by hitting a free throw and then Petya Laney made a jump shot to regain the double-digit advantage.
Dream 100, Fever 94
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Alesha Gray scored 25 points on 9-of-13 shooting, Ryan Howard added 21 points and Atlanta beat Indiana.
Cheyenne Parker scored 15 points, grabbed seven rebounds and four shots for Atlanta (5-5). Nia Coffey made 3 of 4 from 3-point range, finished with 11 points and tied a career high with six assists.
Boston High, No. 1 overall in the 2023 WNBA Draft, made 10 of 15 from the field and led Indiana (4-7) with 25 points—tying her career best—and a season-high four blocks. Kelsey Mitchell added a season-high 24 points, Kristi Wallace scored 13 and Nalissa Smith had 12.
Atlanta set season highs for single goal scoring and field goal percentage (56.1%). Dream shot 37-of-66 overall, 7-of-15 from 3-point range and hit 19-of-24 from the free throw line.
Thoughts 77, Heaven 69
WASHINGTON (AP) — Elena Delle Donne scored 20 points, Brittney Sykes added 16 and three wins gave Washington its fourth in five games.
Chicago (5-7) lost four straight games, its longest losing streak since sliding seven games early in the 2021 season, when the Sky responded with seven straight wins and eventually won the WNBA title.
Delle Donne made a jump shot and hit two free throws before Sykes found Shakira Austin for a basket that made it 6-0 and Washington (7-4) never trailed. Sykes had 14 points on perfect shooting in the first half, went 5-of-5 from the field, including a 3-pointer, and 3-of-3 from the free throw line.
Courtney Williams made a layup with about a minute left in the first half that cut Chicago’s deficit to 39-38, but Dealey Don answered with a three-point shot.
The Mystics led 42-38 at halftime and Austin scored five points in a 12-0 run to open the third quarter with a 16-point lead with seven minutes left in the period. Washington led by at least eight points the rest of the way.
Rookie Morgan Birch, who missed the past eight games with an ankle injury, shot 6-of-9 from the field, and 4-of-5 from 3-point range to finish with 16 points and a sky-high seven rebounds. Marina Mabry added 11 points, Alana Smith scored eight and grabbed 13 rebounds.
83- Sparks 74
LOS ANGELES (AP) — DeWanna Bonner scored 20 points and nine rebounds, Alyssa Thomas added 16 points, 12 assists and five rebounds, as Connecticut beat Los Angeles.
Breonna Jones scored 17 points on 8-of-12 shooting and grabbed eight rebounds for Connecticut (9-3), who won for the third time in four games.
Thomas passed Taj McWilliams-Franklin (3,019) to rank third on the Sun’s career scoring list with 3,027 points, behind Asja Jones (3,336) and Nikesha Seales (3,955).
Carly Samuelson hit a jumper to make it 74 with three minutes left to play but the Sparks shot 0 for 6 the rest of the way. Dejonay Carrington hit two free throws with 2:48 remaining to give Connecticut the lead for good and spark a 9-0 shutout. Jones added a layup about a minute later and LA coach Kurt Miller was called out for a technical foul with 1:27 remaining. Bonner made the free throw and added a layup before Carrington hit two free throws to kill the scoring with 38.1 seconds left in the game.
Nika Ogomiek scored 19 points and grabbed a season-high 15 rebounds for her sixth double of the season with the Sparks (5-6). Los Angeles shot 5-for-17 (29%) from the field as they held a 20-11 lead in the fourth quarter. Jordan Canada added 14 points and six assists, Azura Stephens scored 12 points and Samuelson finished with 11 points.
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