Bridget Carleton hit a pair of go-ahead free-throws with two seconds remaining as the Minnesota Lynx beat the New York Liberty 82-80 to force a decisive game five in the WNBA Finals on Friday.
The victory on the Lynx’s home court at the Target Center knotted the best-of-five championship series at two games apiece, sending it to a winner-take-all showdown in New York on Sunday.
New York’s Sabrina Ionescu missed a potential game-winning three-pointer with seven-tenths of a second left in an intense duel that featured 14 lead changes, in which neither team led by more than six points.
New York’s Jonquel Jones led all scorers with 21 points and Leonie Fiebich added 19, but Liberty star Breanna Stewart was held to 11 points and Ionescu to 10.
Kayla McBride led the Lynx scoring with 19 points, Courtney Williams added 15 and Napheesa Collier had 14 for Minnesota, who are in the finals for the first time since 2017 as they chase a record fifth title.
“We’re going to be out there going to war and I’m pumped,” said McBride, who said her mindset in the potential closeout game was to “be as aggressive as possible.”
Jones converted a three-point play with 1:10 to play to tie it at 80-80, driving for a layup, drawing a foul and converting the free-throw.
But with less than a minute to play, the Liberty came up empty on their next possession and the Lynx got their chance.
Williams dribbled long enough to eat up some time then missed a jump shot. Carleton came up with the rebound and was fouled by Ionescu.
“The last thing we said was, we’ve got to get the last shot. Didn’t want to shoot too early,” said Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve.
Now the Liberty — who had a league-best 32-8 regular season record — will hope a return to New York will make for a breakthrough WNBA title, after they came up short in five prior championship series.
Stewart said the key to bouncing back would be “short term memory”.
“Just the fact that all that happened tonight is the series is even, and there’s a game five, winner-take-all,” she said. “We are going back to New York, and we’re going to get it done.”