June 4, 2024; Chicago, Illinois, USA; New York Liberty forward Breanna Stewart (30) shoots against the Chicago Sky during the first half of a WNBA game at Wintrust Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kamil Krzaczynski-USA TODAY Sports The WNBA’s top-ranked New York Liberty will look to win their sixth straight when they visit the Indiana Fever on Saturday in Indianapolis.
New York (17-3) hasn’t had much trouble against Indiana (8-13), winning the previous three meetings this season by a combined margin of 83 points. Liberty has also topped the 100-point mark in two of the three meetings with the Fever.
Breanna Stewart has had plenty of success against the Fever this season, averaging 22.7 points on 52.1 percent shooting from the field. Stewart is coming off a double-double of 17 points and 17 rebounds in a 76-67 win over the Minnesota Lynx on Tuesday. The forward also had three assists, two steals and two blocks in the home win over Minnesota, which beat New York 94-89 for the Commissioner’s Cup title on June 25.
While Stewart impressed against the Fever, the Liberty got contributions from across their roster in the series against Indiana. At least four Liberty players scored in double figures in each of their three games.
Jonquel Jones is also coming off a big performance after recording a double-double of 21 points and 12 rebounds against the Lynx.
New York was tough to beat on defense. The Liberty used a 15-0 run in the fourth quarter to overtake the Lynx and held Minnesota to just eight points in the final quarter.
“Defense is about hard work. Are you willing to do it or not?” Liberty coach Sandy Brondello said. “And we’re willing to do it, and we’ve talked about it. (Minnesota) is a team that’s beaten us, but we can take it to another level. I think we’ve shown that in the fourth quarter time and time again this year. We can take it to another level defensively.”
Indiana’s Kelsey Mitchell led the Fever with a team-best 21 points in their last meeting with the Liberty on June 2, while Aliyah Boston and Caitlin Clark were held to a combined eight points.
Mitchell had scored double-digit points in eight straight games heading into Saturday. She became the 19th player in WNBA history to score 500 career field goals in Indiana’s 88-69 loss to the Las Vegas Aces on Tuesday.
Overall, Indiana has made some progress since starting the season with a 2-9 record, a stretch that included three losses to Liberty. The Fever, however, have lost three of their last four games.
They plan to incorporate some lessons learned from their recent loss to the Aces when they host New York.
“The way we fought defensively for three quarters,” Fever coach Christie Sides said of a positive from the loss to the Aces. “We were down the first quarter, 26-24, we were putting the ball in the hole. We got stops, we held them to 20 and 19 in the second and third. We just have to get back to Indianapolis.”
“They’re already talking about getting the shots up. We’ve got to put the ball in the hole. We’ve had some great opportunities. We’re trying to put the ball in. We shot 14 of 27 from the field. We’ve got to be better. That percentage has to be better.”
–Field level media
