From the moment the ball tipped on Saturday night at Target Center, New York Liberty superstar Breanna Stewart imposed her will on the Minnesota Lynx defense, leaving no doubt that she was the best player on the floor.
Stewart scored 12 straight points in the first quarter, leading a personal 12-3 run to give the Liberty an early 14-5 lead and put the Lynx in a hole that the home team couldn’t dig out of. Even as the Lynx began to buckets together with excellent ball movement and converting open shots in the back half of the frame, they couldn’t keep pace with a dynamic scoring machine and trailed 28-20 after one quarter.