Breanna Stewart, Liberty take charge in second half to douse Fire

Breanna Stewart scored a game-high 22 points Thursday night and the visiting New York Liberty blew open a tight game in the second half to earn a 100-82 victory over the Portland Fire for a split of their two-game series.

Pauline Astier added 20 as New York improved to 3-1. Rebekah Gardner and Alex Fowler came off the bench for 14 and 12 points, respectively, while Marine Johannes dished out 11 assists while committing only one turnover.

The Liberty shrugged off a slow start to sink 34 of 67 shots from the field, including 15 of 38 from the 3-point line, and finished with a whopping 32 assists. They also got 41 points off the bench after getting outscored 32-11 off the pine Tuesday night.

Megan Gustafson scored 14 points in a reserve role for Portland (1-2). Nyadiew Puoch added 13, while Emily Engstler and Bridget Carleton tallied 11 each. But the Fire hit only 30 of 68 from the field, including a measly 9 of 31 on 3-pointers.

New York used a 31-16 third-quarter burst to expand a two-point halftime lead to 70-53. Stewart scored 10 points in the period, canning two free throws to cap a 10-0 burst that put the lead in double figures for good.

After scoring a 98-96 decision Tuesday night for its first win in its second iteration, Portland controlled most of the first half behind accurate shooting and solid defense.

The Fire established a 20-12 lead late in the first quarter when Engstler canned a free throw to cap a 9-0 run. They held the Liberty scoreless for a 4:24 stretch during that spurt, then upped the margin to 27-18 when Sug Sutton fed Gustafson for a layup.

At that juncture, New York finally found traction on both ends of the floor. It rattled off 11 straight points as Stewart made a 3-pointer and converted a layup to key the run. Betnijah Laney-Hamilton sank a driving layup with 2.4 seconds left before halftime for a 39-37 edge at the break.

--Field Level Media