Superstar Breanna Stewart brings strong leadership to Liberty

Breanna Stewart had carried the Liberty back into Game 3, having just scored their last 13 points. They were down two with three minutes left, and the lip readers caught her sitting there during a timeout telling her teammates that they weren’t going to lose this game.

This was the WNBA Finals, and she used an off-color word to drive home the point inside Minnesota’s home.

“That’s why I can’t be mic’d up,” Stewart cracked afterward.

“You could feel the momentum was shifting to our side . . . And it’s like, if we’re going to be this close, we’re not leaving here without this win.”

And they didn’t thanks to Sabrina Ionescu being on target with her tiebreaking, 28-foot rainbow three with one second left at Target Center for a 2-1 lead in the best-of-five.

Stewart had missed a free throw for the win with 0.8 showing on the regulation clock and missed on a drive for the tie at the end of OT in Game 1. But she delivered in the next two before struggling in the 82-80 Game 4 loss. So she was fighting over the crown in the deciding Game 5 Sunday night at Barclays Center.

“We’re going to get it done,” Stewart proclaimed after Game 4.

Whatever way it played out, one of the all-time greats brought her immense will to win it all to the Liberty. It was still burning brightly even after claiming four national championships at UConn, three Olympic golds and two WNBA titles with Seattle.

“It’s certainly motivational,” teammate Nyara Sabally said after Sunday morning’s shootaround. “She’s a leader on the team whether it’s through her play or a vocal leader. Just having somebody like that with so much experience and so much to back it up be that leader and have confidence not just in herself but in us all means a lot and it goes a long way.”

This 6-4 forward with the 7-1 wing span signed with the Liberty last year to help the franchise finally earn its first championship.

But the Liberty didn’t get it done against Las Vegas in 2023. Stewart claimed her second regular season MVP, but she went 3-for-17 and scored only 10 when the Aces won by one in Game 4 of the Finals, clinching inside the Liberty’s home. That didn’t sit well with her and the rest of this team.

The Liberty took the top seed this time, and Stewart averaged 20.4 points, 8.4 rebounds and 3.5 assists. The 30-year-old former UConn All-American made All-WNBA First Team for the sixth straight year and All-Defensive First Team for the third straight time.

“She’s an amazing player,” coach Sandy Brondello said. “. . . You heard what she said in the timeout. She wasn’t going to let us lose.”

“She’s long,” Brondello added. “She can rebound. She can run. She can do so many great things. But what I’ve really loved about coaching Stewie is she’s a very humble superstar.”

These Finals, though, weren’t easy. She saw a lot of her college teammate for one season, Napheesa Collier, the runner-up for the 2024 MVP and the WNBA Defensive Player of the Year. Stewart shot 6-for-21 in Game 1 and 5-for-20 in Game 4.

“She’s a great player, one of the best players in the world,” said Collier, who also didn’t have it easy with Stewart defending. “But you’ve got to make it as hard as you can for her.”

Besides their UConn connection, Stewart and Collier struck gold together at the Paris Olympics in the summer.

They’re also both mothers. And they’re business partners. They've teamed up to found Unrivaled, a women’s pro 3-on-3 league coming to Miami in January.

So they have grown closer since their Huskies days of 2015-16 when Stewart was a senior and Collier was a freshman.

“When she was still at school, we probably didn’t talk as much just because it’s a little bridge of time,” Stewart said. “But as we’ve been in the league, her being a mom, and obviously with USA Basketball, and now being business partners together, we’ve definitely built a bond, or kind of rekindled it since college.”

But this series was strictly business to them. They each wanted the same thing — the championship trophy in their hands.