Breanna Stewart scored 36 points and the New York Liberty beat the Minnesota Lynx 99-86 on Friday, turning a routine regular-season return into a statement win and putting Cheryl Reeve's record chase on pause for at least one more game.
Stewart did the damage early and kept going. She had 16 points in the first quarter alone and finished 7-for-7 from the floor in that opening stretch, then ended with her highest scoring total since Sept. 15, 2024. The performance gave her a season high and her 33rd career 30-point game, moving her into third place in WNBA history in that category behind Diana Taurasi and A’ja Wilson.
The timing mattered. The Liberty were back on the floor three days after winning the Commissioner’s Cup on Tuesday, and the question around them was whether they would come out flat after the celebration. Stewart, who earned the tournament MVP trophy and drank champagne from it, answered that immediately. Minnesota entered as the league’s top-ranked team, but New York controlled the game behind a scorer who kept finding space, rhythm and touch from the opening minutes.
That kind of night also intersected with Reeve’s place in the standings. She had tied Mike Thibault’s WNBA record of 379 career coaching wins earlier in the week and needed one more victory to move alone into first place in regular-season coaching wins. Instead, the Liberty made sure the milestone would have to wait, a delay that followed the logic of the game itself: Stewart was hot, New York stayed sharp, and Minnesota never recovered enough to turn the night back toward Reeve.
Leonie Fiebich said Stewart was aggressive and confident, and Sabrina Ionescu said the Liberty keep looking for her because she can do everything. That is the shape of New York right now. Stewart is not just scoring in bunches; she is forcing opponents to choose between giving her room and letting her punish them anyway. For Cheryl Reeve, that meant one more game before the record falls. For everyone else, it meant another reminder that Stewart can still take over a game before the first quarter is finished.
