They got one.
The Liberty had lost three games in a row to the Minnesota Lynx, all scrunched up in the past three weeks, as their triumph in last year’s WNBA Finals increasingly faded into the background and the best new rivalry in the WNBA started to tilt in the wrong direction.
The Liberty were 12-13 since a 9-0 start.
The Lynx were running away and hiding atop the standings.
But facing the prospect of finishing the regular season without a win over their chief antagonists, the Liberty summoned their championship spirit for a 85-75 victory on Tuesday night at Barclays Center.
“It’s nice to finally get a win against them,” Liberty head coach Sandy Brondello said.
The game remained in doubt with 33 seconds left — anyone who watched Game 1 last October knows what can happen between these two teams in this building — when Sabrina Ionescu dropped in a deep rainbow 3-pointer while drawing a foul to seal the win.
Ionescu from the logo to ice a big game against the Lynx?
That’s shades of her iconic Game 3 winner in the WNBA Finals.
Where does this one rank?
“Not as high as the last one against them,” Ionescu (17 points, 11 assists) said with a smile, “but obviously, it’s a huge dagger.”
It adds even more texture to the growing lore between two veteran teams who seem to relish beating each other.
On one side, irrefutably if controversially, is the Liberty prevailing in a knock-down, drag-out five-game WNBA Finals for the franchise’s first title.
On the other, the Lynx’s all-encompassing 8-5 record against the Liberty over the past two years, including a 3-0 start to 2025 (without Liberty star Breanna Stewart for any of them, it should be said, or Lynx talisman Napheesa Collier for all but the first encounter, both due to injuries).
“We know all the plays they’re running; they know all the plays we’re running, so it’s who executes the scout the best. And they’ve done that better,” Liberty head coach Sandy Brondello said before Tuesday night’s game. “I think you see their confidence and chemistry that they have in those moments, a little bit better than what we’ve had.”
But the Liberty were the sharper team in Round 4.
They shot 40.6 percent from 3-point range, notched 23 assists on 29 field goals and even won the rebounding battle, 37-33.
Jonquel Jones scored 17 of her game-high 22 points in the first half as the Liberty built a double-digit advantage.
“We threw the first punch,” Kennedy Burke said.
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But the Lynx kept it interesting and got the game within four points with under two minutes remaining.
The Liberty buckled down for two crucial stops on Lynx point guard Courtney Williams.
“We’ve known for a while now that we have another level that we can take it to,” said Jones, who added 10 rebounds for a double-double. “We’ve been in close games, not being able to pull them out, but I think what we learned from those games is really going to be vital for us going into the playoffs.”
The Liberty (22-13) began the day in third place, just two losses separating second place from fifth and possible road dates to begin the postseason.
“I’m glad we’re past them,” Brondello said of the Lynx. “Now, we focus on the next nine games … and getting as high position as we can in the standings and get the home court.”
