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And New York gave nearly 18,000 fans no reason
to think otherwise with a 91-80 victory.
The Liberty will try to make it four straight wins to open the
season when they host the Seattle Storm on Monday night.
The Liberty established a 57-37 halftime lead Saturday and
cruised to the finish, as all five starters ended in double
figures. Breanna Stewart scored a game-high 24 points on 7-of-14
shooting as New York hit 48.4 percent from the field, including
an impressive 15-of-32 on 3-pointers.
In the proverbial small sample size of three games, the Liberty
lead the league in shooting percentage (47.1) and scoring (92.7
ppg). Even taking into account the games have been against
winless opponents in Washington and Indiana, it's been a
promising start for a team whose one goal this year is to
dethrone two-time champion Las Vegas.
"We're not satisfied over here," Stewart said.
Meanwhile, Seattle (1-2) got into the win column Sunday with an
84-75 victory at Washington as Jewell Loyd pumped in 24 points.
Skylar Diggins-Smith added 18, while Ezi Magbegor contributed a
15-point, 14-rebound double-double.
Loyd, who averaged a league-high 24.7 ppg last year, was held to
15 ppg in the first two games of 2024 and has made 22 percent
(13 of 59) of her shots in three games. She shot 6-of-19 on
Sunday.
"It obviously feels great when you're hitting shots," Loyd said.
"I was just trying to get into a rhythm. All of us, we were able
to take what the defense was giving us. We fought through a lot
of physicality today."
The Storm won despite missing Nneka Ogwumike, who sat out with
an ankle injury suffered in Friday night's 102-93 loss in double
overtime at Minnesota. Ogwumike is expected to play Monday
night.
New York swept the four-game season series last year, with three
wins coming by eight points or fewer.
--Field Level Media [© 2024 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
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