The Barclays Center in Brooklyn was filled to capacity as reigning WNBA MVP Breanna Stewart led the New York Liberty to a 3-0 victory over the Las Vegas Aces in a rematch of last year’s WNBA finals.

Although Aces star and reigning WNBA Finals MVP A’Ja Wilson missed her first game since 2019 due to an ankle injury, the league’s two dominant teams fought a thrilling contest down to the finish on Sunday, featuring the heroics of Sabrina Ionescu.

In the end, the Liberty narrowly won 75-71 in front of an explosive home crowd.

Stewart finished the game with a dominant performance of 21 points and 11 rebounds. Meanwhile, Ionescu scored 14 points in another crucial performance.

Jonquel Jones also made important contributions to the victory with 15 points and eight rebounds.

Breanna Stewart led the New York Liberty to a narrow victory over the Las Vegas Aces

Aces star A’ja Wilson missed her first game since 2019 due to an ankle injury

The Liberty entered the competition with two consecutive wins against the Seattle Storm. Meanwhile, their familiar opponents from the desert came with four wins of their own.

The defending champions – without their front woman – showed what they were capable of early on, shooting their first six field goals from distance and missing only one of three shots at the start of the game.

However, the Liberty forced a 24-24 stalemate with two minutes left in the first quarter and finished the first period with a 26-24 lead thanks to Stewart’s ten points and four rebounds.

Before halftime, the Liberty’s offense was as overwhelming as the fouls they committed on the Aces.

A timely three-pointer from Ionescu gave the Liberty a 37-28 lead after seven minutes and forced Becky Hammon to call a timeout. But it was no use, as New York made the visitors lose the ball 11 times and they had the game firmly in their grasp at 45-33 heading to the locker room.

Stewart remained in the lead, just three rebounds away from a double-double in the first half with 14 points.

With two minutes left in the third quarter, Stewart got a breather and her stats grew to 21 points and eight rebounds.

Despite a comfortable 64-51 lead after three quarters, the Aces cut the lead to three points in the final five minutes and one point in the final three and a half minutes.

The entire building gasped after Las Vegas’ Syndey Colson found a solo effort, but the Texas A&M product couldn’t keep her composure and give her team the lead as her layup slipped out of bounds.

After recovering from the miss, the two teams went back and forth, trading headlines in the final minutes.

With the weight of five districts on her shoulders, Ionescu showed off her finishing skills by breaking the 71-71 tie with a jump shot in the final minute. With seconds left, she went to the free throw line and made both attempts to seal the win.

“We are definitely happy that we won, but we can’t play like that again,” Ionescu said after the game. “This is huge. Every single game in this league is important, you want to win every series.”

“It doesn’t really matter who we play against in the playoffs, but for us this is a home game and we didn’t want to miss this opportunity and end this home game with a bad feeling,” she continued.

“We have to find ways, whether they are beautiful or ugly, and I’m proud of the way we fought, even though we didn’t play great.”

With the win, New York is now 29-6 and remains atop the league standings. The Liberty are expected to hold on to the top spot with five games to go as the second-seeded Minnesota Lynx trail them at 25-8.

On the other hand, the Aces go into their back-to-back games against Caitlin Clark and the Fever in Indiana with a record of 22-12, putting them in fourth place in the league.

After avoiding a late-game collapse, Stewart echoed Ionescu, saying, “We’re happy to go home with the win, but you know, at one point we were 20 points ahead.”

“Keep building and never let up at any point when you’re on the court,” she added of the main takeaway from her win. “We’ll look at the footage and figure out what we need to do better. Everything on the court has a purpose. Sometimes it seems like we’re just drifting along – and these are the defending champions.”

“Of course they will compete, no matter who is on the pitch and whether A’ja plays or not – they will fight for the win.”