Liberty hold on to beat Minnesota Lynx in WNBA Finals Game 2 as Breanna Stewart and Betnijah Laney-Hamilton come up big

They had come from 15 points ahead with five minutes left in regulation to do something that had never been done before in the WNBA playoffs — lose. The Liberty needed to rebound in more ways than one in Game 2 of the Finals after their overtime setback.

The prospect of having to go to Minnesota to try to start doing something that had also never been done before in the WNBA playoffs — crawling out of a two-games-to-none ditch and winning a best-of-five — wasn’t too appealing.

The top-seeded Liberty felt they had put their historic collapse behind them and were ready to continue their pursuit of first prize. And now they’re indeed back in play.

The Liberty, who owned an 18-point lead in the second quarter in Game 1, built a 17-point lead in the second quarter in Game 2. They didn’t throw it all away this time against the formidable No. 2 Lynx, just most of it.

Minnesota cut it to two three times in the fourth. But the Liberty finished strong, walking off with an 80-66 win Sunday at Barclays Center by scoring the final 12 points.

“We can usually respond quite well when we face adversity,” Liberty coach Sandy Brondello said before the game. “Nothing was won or lost [with Game 1]. We lost our opportunity, but it’s a series.”

Breanna Stewart contributed 21 points, eight rebounds and five assists. Betnijah Hamilton-Laney turned in her best game of the postseason with 20 points, including a very big three, one of four she hit from beyond the arc. Sabrina Ionescu added 15 points, and Jonquel Jones had 14 points and nine rebounds.

So the Liberty will enter Game 3 at Target Center Wednesday night with an even record. Last year, they dropped the first two games of the Finals at Las Vegas, then came back and won Game 3 at Barclays before being edged in the Game 4 clincher.

“What happened last year, that’s been our learning curve,” Brondello added beforehand. “Minnesota is a good team. They’ve beaten us four times now [this year]. So it’s not like they’re not a good team.

“But we don’t want to lose twice in a row. We want to make sure we can win this one and then go to Minnesota and steal one on their home court and then bring it back. Whatever we need to do. Win two there.”

Now if they win two there, they will be the champs.

They had gone over their issues frankly in the wake of Game 1.

“We want to get this franchise the first-ever championship,” Stewart said. “You don’t do that by only doing the easy things or saying the easy things. This is the WNBA, and nothing is a cakewalk.”

This one sure wasn’t.

Courtney Vandersloot drilled a three to give the Liberty a 64-55 lead 1:30 into the fourth.

The Lynx hung in. Soon it was down to two, at 64-62, and again, at 66-64 and again, at 68-66.

Then Laney-Hamilton canned a three from the left corner for a five-point lead with 3:21 left to launch the 12-0 finishing burst.

Stewart made a free throw for a six-point edge. After Courtney Williams lost the ball, rookie Leonie Fiebich picked it up and tossed in a three for her first and only points of the game — 75-66, Liberty with 1:30 left.

Stewart put in her own miss and it was up to 11 with 57.6 on the clock. Ionescu added a free throw at 35.6. And then Jones made a steal and turned it into a layup to put an exclamation point on it.

By halftime, the Lynx had the Liberty’s 17-point advantage down to 10. When Williams made back-to-back jumpers, it was down to 53-47, and Brondello called for time.

Napheesa Collier made back-to-back layups on her way to a 16-point game, and it was 55-51. It was still four with two minutes to go in the third. Stewart made a couple of free throws and a long jumper, and so the Liberty led 61-53 with 10 minutes to go.

The Liberty had shot 13-for-18 in the first quarter — 72.2%. Ionescu scored 12 and they led 31-21.

The margin expanded with an assist from an unexpected source.

Laney-Hamilton hadn’t been moving well in Game 1. She underwent knee surgery in July and was struggling to provide offense in the postseason, averaging 5.9 points.

But Laney-Hamilton was productive from the start of this one, making five of her six shots, including three of her four from beyond the arc, and scoring 13 in the first half.

“B is a warrior,” Brondello said.

When Laney-Hamilton drained her third three, the Liberty had themselves a 13-2 run and the 17-point advantage at 46-29 with 3:21 to go in the second quarter.

And the Lynx couldn’t make it all evaporate on this occasion.