Liberty head coach Walt Hopkins probably said it best.
“I thought they just recognized the moment, that’s what really good teams do,” he said of the Seattle Storm. “They knew they had to punch first in the third quarter, like they did last time... there was a moment there in the third quarter where they wanted it more.”
After the Liberty went up 30-23 in the first, powered by a career performance in the first quarter from Sami Whitcomb, the Storm came back in the second, getting to within a point of the Liberty. In the third, though, Seattle showed what makes them a perennial WNBA contender, outscoring New York, 30-16, including a 17-4 run.