NEW YORK — Breanna Stewart needed to rant.
“It’s about time,” said the New York Liberty forward just minutes after leading her team to an 80-66 win over the Minnesota Lynx in Game 2 of the WNBA Finals, a victory in which she tallied 21 points, eight rebounds and a career-high seven steals.
She wasn’t referring to the much-needed win, a particular officiating call or the fact that New York set an attendance record with 18,046 fans.
No, she was calling out her college coach, Geno Aureimma, the 11-time national champion widely considered the greatest of all time.
“I text him and was like, you know what it’s about time that you come to my game,” Stewart said as the press room chuckled. She shook her head in mock disgust. “I’ve been here for two years and he hasn’t come down! What are you doing?”
After the game, holding her 3-year-old daughter Ruby at center court, Stewart told ESPN sideline reporter Holly Rowe that she felt the need to put on a good show for Auriemma, since he finally decided to show his face at the Barclays Center.
Also sitting courtside for Game 2: C. Vivian Stringer, the first NCAA coach to lead three different teams to the NCAA women’s basketball Final Four. She did that with Rutgers most recently in 2007 – and four years later, Betnijah Laney-Hamilton starred for Stringer and the Scarlet Knights. (Stringer retired in 2022.)
After she scored a season-high-tying 20 points, Laney-Hamilton smiled and said anytime her college coach is in the building, she wants to make her proud.
Laney-Hamilton’s performance, as she continues to battle a right knee injury, got Stringer on her feet a couple times, and who could blame her for being so excited – especially when Laney-Hamilton started the game 4-for-4 from the field, helping the Liberty build as much as a 17-point lead.
“I was happy to be able to play well in front of her,” said Laney-Hamilton, who scored in double figures for the first time since Sept. 22 – New York’s first playoff game of 2024. She also recorded two assists and a steal.
“It gives me a little bit of momentum as we continue to go through the series,” she said. “I’ve been struggling physically, mentally, as I’ve been going through everything, so to see a glimpse of what I’m capable of, it felt really good.”
So, which college coaches of other Liberty players are coming to Minnesota for Games 3 and 4?
Sabrina Ionescu was quick to answer that question in the press conference, saying that her college coach, Oregon’s Kelly Graves, would be in the Target Center Wednesday. That means the Liberty can probably expect a big game from Ionescu and guard Courtney Vandersloot, who played for Graves at Gonzaga.
“They are all welcome,” New York coach Sandy Brondello said, laughing.
Sunday was a vintage Stewart performance, and in truth, she didn’t need her college coach on the sideline to hype her up.
Stewart is a three-time Olympian and two-time MVP for a reason. After a fourth-quarter (and overtime) fiasco in Game 1 – which included a missed Stewart free throw at the end of regulation that would have won it – Stewart said, “the moment the game ended Thursday night, I was looking forward to Sunday.”
She played like it, too.
Stewart had two huge sequences, both in the second half.
At the end of the third quarter she drew back-to-back fouls on Liberty possessions, hit two free throws on the second, denied a Lynx shot on the other end and then hit a runner, giving New York a 61-53 lead with 55.8 seconds to go and halting any momentum Minnesota had.
Her other stretch might have been even more impressive.
Clinging to a two-point lead, 66-64, with 5:36 left, Stewart recorded back-to-back steals on Minnesota possessions, refusing to let the Lynx tie or take the lead. New York finished the game on a 12-0 run over the final 3:21, which included a timely corner 3 from Laney-Hamilton and offensive tip-in by Stewart.
Given Laney-Hamilton’s season, her performance might have been even more impressive than Stewart’s. Certainly it was grittier.
In July, just before the month-long Olympic break, Laney-Hamilton had minor surgery on her knee, returning to the Liberty in late July. She’s been bugged by it all season and in obvious pain for stretches. Brondello said earlier in the series that even after surgery Laney-Hamilton is not 100%,
Sunday, she praised her toughness.
“She was digging deep,” Brondello said, “and that’s what we needed.”
Stewart agreed.
“I think what B brings is this grit, this toughness … all of us know, she’s giving us whatever she’s got.
“We know she can do this and happy to see her get into a good rhythm with everything that’s been up and down this season and know that she’s a big factor in everything we do.”
Laney-Hamilton didn’t want to assign herself a percentage of health and declined to get into specifics of treatment, saying only that the Liberty have been “doing a little bit of everything to try to get me feeling good.”
Clearly, it’s working. But to be safe, they should probably invite Stringer — and Auriemma — on the charter to Minneapolis, too.
Email Lindsay Schnell at lschnell@usatoday.com and follow her on social media @Lindsay_Schnell
