Liberty vs. Fever: Leonie Fiebich's Season-High 20 in Her Return Lifts New York Past Indiana 109-102

Leonie Fiebich had not played a game since July 3. So naturally, on Saturday night at Barclays Center, she came back and put up a season high in points and assists, shot 7 of 10, and made the biggest basket of the night with New York clinging to a one-point lead in the final minute.

Fiebich scored 20 points, Breanna Stewart had 22, and the New York Liberty held off a furious Caitlin Clark and Kelsey Mitchell comeback for a 109-102 win over the Indiana Fever in front of a sellout crowd of 17,581. Indiana tied the game at 100 with 1:44 to play, and New York closed on a 9-2 run. In a matchup with enough firepower to power a small city, the Liberty simply had one more answer.

A Shootout With a Late Twist

Both teams came out looking like the rims had been widened overnight. New York shot 13 of 20 in the opening quarter with 10 assists, matching the team's season high for assists in a quarter, according to the Liberty. A 12-4 run late in the period helped build a 33-26 lead. Indiana got it back to a 44-44 tie in the second, but a 7-1 Liberty stretch before the break helped make it 53-49 at halftime.

The third quarter belonged to the Liberty's offense. New York made 13 of 17 shots and 4 of 7 from deep, scored 32 points and led 85-78 going to the fourth. Fiebich had nine of those points by herself, matching her best quarter of the season.

Then Indiana made it a game. Starting at 7:22 of the fourth, the Fever went on a 16-6 run, per the Liberty's count. Mitchell scored a 6-footer, Clark hit a 16-foot pull-up, Mitchell finished inside on a Clark assist, and then came the moment that looked like it would break New York's heart: Mitchell's 26-foot running jumper, off a pass from Sophie Cunningham, tied it at 100 with 1:44 left.

Nine Points to Finish It

From there, the Liberty were almost clinical. Stewart made one of two free throws to go ahead 101-100 at 1:24. Fiebich then drove to the rim for a layup with 57.5 seconds left to make it 103-100, and Pauline Astier made two free throws with 29 seconds left for a five-point lead. Stewart hit two more at 17.2 seconds and two more at nine seconds, and the Fever's only reply was two Aliyah Boston free throws. New York's last nine points all came on the free-throw line or at the rim.

Stewart, Jones and the Return

Stewart's line: 22 points on 8-of-16 shooting, eight rebounds, seven assists, two steals and a block. She didn't make a 3 in four tries, and it barely mattered. According to the Liberty, she has now scored in double figures in 28 straight games, the fifth-longest such streak by a player in team history.

Fiebich's return deserves its own paragraph, so here it is. She finished with 20 points, five rebounds and five assists in 34 minutes, shot 3 of 5 from deep and was 3 of 4 at the line. The team says she had never before reached 20 points, five rebounds and five assists in the same game. After seven weeks away, she looked like she'd never left.

Jonquel Jones was the third leg. She posted 19 points and 10 rebounds, going 8 of 8 at the free-throw line, and scored 17 of those points in the first half alone. The Liberty say she is the third player in franchise history to reach 50 double-doubles in a Liberty uniform. Rebecca Allen (9 points, 3 of 4 from deep), Han Xu (9 points on 4-of-5 shooting) and Marine Johannes (6 points, 4 assists, plus-16) gave the bench real juice, and Sabrina Ionescu added 12 points and four assists.

Indiana was terrific offensively too. Mitchell scored 25 on 9-of-15 shooting, Boston added 22 with six assists, and Clark had 21 with seven assists. All three were dangerous all night. The trouble came elsewhere: Makayla Timpson fouled out in 19 minutes after scoring 10, and the Fever's free-throw shooting betrayed them badly.

The Free-Throw Line Picked a Winner

The free-throw line, and it wasn't especially close. Indiana went 11 of 22. New York went 24 of 29. That's a 13-point gap in a seven-point game, and Clark herself was just 1 of 4. When two teams both shoot better than 57% from the field, as these two did, the game gets decided in the margins, and Indiana left a lot of them on the floor.

What the Box Score Won't Let You Ignore

• 24 of 29 vs. 11 of 22: Free throws, the difference in the game.
• 57.8%: New York's field-goal percentage, the Liberty's third-highest of the season, according to the team.
• 0: Indiana blocks. The Liberty say it was the first time this season an opponent finished a game against them without one.
• 34-27: New York's rebounding edge.
• 9-2: The Liberty's closing run after the tie at 100.

An Even Series and a Tight Race

New York is 23-15 and 13-5 at home, and the win evened the season series with Indiana at 2-2 after back-to-back Fever wins in July and earlier in August. It also ended a one-game slide following Tuesday's 93-86 loss in Chicago. The Liberty next host Golden State on Thursday.

Indiana falls to 24-14 and has dropped two in a row after a five-game winning streak. Later Saturday night, Atlanta's win at Phoenix moved the Dream a half-game ahead of the Fever for the fourth seed, per the AP. The Fever don't get much time to stew: they visit Chicago on Sunday to finish a five-game road trip.

A Beloved Character Returns

The Liberty spent seven weeks wondering what they would look like with Fiebich back in the lineup. Saturday provided the sneak preview. It's a little like getting a beloved character back in the third season of a show: the plot immediately makes more sense, and everyone else starts playing better around her.

Stats from the official box score via ESPN. Milestones and additional details as reported by the New York Liberty.