Liberty Finish Sweep of Storm

The New York Liberty's sweep of the Seattle Storm allowed them to clinch homecourt advantage for at least the first round of the WNBA playoffs.

Jun 25, 2024; Belmont Park, New York, USA; New York Liberty guards Betnijah Laney-Hamilton (44), Sabrina Ionescu (20), forwards Leonie Fiebich (13), Breanna Stewart (30) and center Jonquel Jones (35) at UBS Arena. Mandatory Credit: Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images / Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images

BROOKLYN-Thanks to another win, the New York Liberty only have a few sleeps until Brooklyn playoffs.

In front of a crowd that included rapper Flavor Flav and NBA legend Dwyane Wade, the Liberty earned a 77-70 victory over the Seattle Storm, assuring they'll fiinish no worse than third on the ucomig WNBA postseason bracket. The magic number for the Liberty (28-6) to clinch the top seed is also down to four.

Betnijah Laney-Hamilton led four New York starters in double figures with 18 as she returned to the starting lineup after coming off the bench in her first three games back from knee surgery. Laney-Hamilton and Jonquel Jones got the ball rolling early, stabilizing a first half that saw the Liberty build an early lead. Jones had 10 of New York's first 17 points and New York lost only six turnovers in the first half after struggling with them during a three-game road trip.

Primarily sustained by a strong outside game for Skylar Diggins-Smith and the arrival of French Olympic heroine Gabby Williams, Seatte used a 15-6 run and struggles from former franchise face Breanna Stewart to build a four-point lead just beyond the halfway mark of the third. The momentum was stifled by Kennedy Burke's first minutes of the ball game: Kayla Thronton's three began a new run before a surrounded Sabrina Ionescu found a streaking Burke for a game-changing double.

New York used the momentum to kickstart a run of 12 straight points that trickled into the fourth quarter and erased Seattle's final lead. After the Liberty posted their game-best advantage of 11, the Storm got no closer than five the rest of the way.

Jones ended the night with 15 points and eight rebounds while Ionescu flirted with a triple-double, falling four rebounds and two assists short along with her 17 tallies. Stewart, who missed all but one of her first 10 tries from the field, went 4-of-6 the rest of the way, as she and Laney-Hamilton united to score each of the Liberty's 15 fourth quarter points while limiting Seattle to 13.

With its loss, the Storm (20-14) has now lost six of nine since returning from the All-Star/Olympic break and now sits only two games ahead of idle Indiana for the fifth spot on the bracket. With Jewell Loyd (3-of-8) held in check by Courtney Vandersloot's defense (helping give her a team-best plus-14 on the night), Diggins-Smith led the way with 21 points though she and Williams (17 on 8-of-13) combined to shoot 2-of-7 over the final 10 minutes.

The Liberty are back at Barclays Center on Sunday late afternoon for the first and only Brooklyn-based 2023 WNBA Finals rematch against the Las Vegas Aces (4 p.m. ET, ESPN).

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