Breanna Stewart's return to her original WNBA home was a successful one. Facing the Seattle Storm as an opponent for the first time ever, she led the New York Liberty to their third straight win of the season. The superstar admitted that it felt weird to be back as a visitor but nonetheless took care of business, winning 86-78.
Despite New York's star-studded roster, Seattle came ready to play and gave the Liberty a ton of trouble, particularly on the defensive end. Stewart needed to get herself right during the game and brought herself and the Liberty together at the half to collect themselves, according to Kevin Pelton of ESPN.
“I was like, ‘Come on, let's get my s**t together a little bit,’” Stewart said after the game. “Just continuing to have that mentality of ‘next play, next thing.’ Whether it was scoring or rebounding and things like that, sometimes the little things help lead to a little bit bigger things…I just really appreciate this staff and everybody for not making it a bigger thing than it was, even though it was a really big thing.”
Stewert powered the Liberty victory with 25 points and 11 rebounds while playing the entire second half. According to Pelton, Stewie is the second player to drop 25 and 10 in the first game against her former team, joining Chamique Holdsclaw, who stuffed the stat sheet against the Washington Mystics after joining the Los Angeles Sparks in 2005. She embraced the crowd that had cheered her on for six seasons.
The Storm were not going to let Stewart waltz in and take the win without a good fight. Jewell Loyd dropped 26 points on 9-16 shooting and Ezi Magbegor locked it down on defense with 14 rebounds, three blocks and two steals. The Liberty held on to win thanks to 20 points from Sabrina Ionescu, 11 assists from Courtney Vandersloot and Stewart's great performance, which also featured two steals and two blocks.
Through four games, Breanna Stewart is averaging 25.8 points and 10.3 rebounds per contest with the Liberty. She already has a franchise scoring record as she and her superteam look to make New York WNBA champions for the first time ever.
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