Breanna Stewart leads Liberty past Mercury recovering from poor WNBA performance

Breanna Stewart bounced back from one of the worst games of her career with a stellar effort, scoring 28 points with 14 rebounds and seven assists to lift the New York Liberty to an 89-71 win over the visiting Phoenix Mercury, who was uninjured. players played. Brittney Griner on Sunday.

Griner missed her second WNBA game in a row due to a hip injury she suffered against Seattle on Tuesday. The all-star center received a warm standing ovation from the crowd when a video of her played on the first time out.

With Griner potentially playing in her first game in New York since returning to the US last year after a 10-month detention in Russia, the Liberty drew a sell-out crowd of 9,278.

Phoenix (2-8) also missed Diana Taurasi due to a hamstring injury.

New York had its own injury problems as Sabrina Ionescu missed her second game in a row with a hamstring injury. Even without Ionescu, the Liberty (7-3) had more than enough to handle the Mercury.

Stewart, who made just one of 14 field goal attempts in New York’s loss to Atlanta on Tuesday, was aggressive from the start. She hit a series of shots inside and out. She finished the first half with 23 points as New York built a 53–34 lead over Phoenix.

Phoenix narrowed a 19-point deficit early in the fourth quarter to 72-64 with 6:01 left as Sophie Cunningham scored nine points on an 11-0 run.

Stewart ended the drought for New York by hitting a free throw and then Betnijah Laney made a jumper to restore the double-digit advantage. Phoenix never threatened the rest of the way.

Cunningham finished with 27 points to lead the Mercury.