Liberty vs. Sparks: Stewart and Ionescu Combine for 56 as New York Hands L.A. Its Sixth Straight Loss

With 15.7 seconds left on Tuesday night, Nneka Ogwumike buried her second three in less than nine seconds of game clock, and a game that had already gone off the rails found one more rail to leave. New York's lead was down to 112-109. Both teams were shooting at least 59 percent. The Sparks had 35 assists on 44 makes. Defense was a rumor.

The New York Liberty still walked out of crypto.com Arena with a 113-109 win over the Los Angeles Sparks, because Breanna Stewart and Sabrina Ionescu were slightly less stoppable than everybody else. Stewart scored 29, Ionescu added 27, and their 56 combined points were the duo's highest single-game total of the season, according to the team.

Basketball, Arcade Settings

The Sparks swung first, scoring nine straight to go up 9-2. New York's response was ridiculous even by the standards of this game. The Liberty closed the quarter on a 14-6 run and went 7 of 10 from three in the period, with Ionescu hitting four of them on her way to 14 first-quarter points. It was 36-30, and those 36 points tied a team season high for a quarter.

Los Angeles flipped the whole thing in the second with a 13-2 run and eventually stretched its lead to nine at 54-45. New York answered with eight straight of its own, and the Sparks took a 56-53 edge into the break. The Liberty had made 10 threes in the half, a season high, and were still losing. That's the kind of night it was.

Rae Burrell's three made it 81-74 with just over two minutes left in the third, and at that point the Sparks looked ready to end a very long month. Instead New York scored nine in a row to go up 83-81, and Stewart's floater ended the frame with the visitors ahead 85-84.

Then came the part that actually decided it. Marine Fauthoux buried back-to-back threes to make it 93-86, and for nearly all of the last eight minutes the Sparks needed two scores just to catch up. Stewart's 25-footer off an Ionescu pass made it 105-94 with 3:33 left, the biggest lead of the night for New York. Los Angeles ripped off seven straight to get to 105-101. Rebecca Allen, scoreless until then, hit a 23-footer off a Stewart feed with 53 seconds to go, and Ogwumike's two late bombs only made the free throws at the other end matter more. Stewart's lone make at the line with 13.9 seconds left closed it out.

Stewart Filled Every Column

Stewart shot 11 of 19, and 19 of her 29 came after halftime, when New York needed somebody to be the adult in the room. She also had seven assists, four rebounds, four steals and three blocks, without being whistled for a single foul. The Liberty say she's the second player in WNBA history to post that kind of line. Along the way she reached 200 steals in a Liberty uniform and logged a fifth straight 20-point game.

Ionescu's night was a little more chaotic and just as loud: 27 points on 9-of-16 shooting, 5 of 9 from three, seven rebounds, six assists and seven turnovers. The two of them have now each scored 20 in the same game 18 times as teammates, the most in franchise history.

The real story behind them was the bench, which beat the Los Angeles reserves 41-19 and matched New York's season high. Rebekah Gardner scored 15 on 5-of-6 shooting, her highest total since July 23, 2022. Han Xu had 13 with a career-high three threes and a career-best plus-29. Fauthoux set a career high with 13, including 10 in the fourth quarter alone. Only once before in franchise history had three Liberty reserves each scored 13 or more in a game.

Los Angeles deserves credit for making this a fight. Burrell led the way with 24 points and four steals, though she also had five of her team's 15 turnovers. Ogwumike shot 9 of 12 for 21 points and nine assists, one dime short of extending her run of double-doubles after four straight. Erica Wheeler had 17 points and nine assists, going 4 of 5 from three. Ariel Atkins scored 16, Dearica Hamby 12, and Cameron Brink gave them 11 off the bench.

Nine Straight When It Counted

New York was 2:09 from going to the fourth down seven to a team that badly needed a win. The nine-point burst that followed is the hinge of the whole game. The Liberty went 13 of 21 from the field in the third and beat the Sparks 20-8 in the paint, so they weren't just trading threes anymore. They were getting to the rim on a night when nobody could stop anybody, and that's how you get a separate gear in a shootout. A seven-point hole late in the third turned into a seven-point lead early in the fourth, and Los Angeles spent the rest of the night chasing.

The Box Score, Abridged

• 17 of 32: New York from three. The 17 makes, 41 field goals and 113 points were all 2026 season highs.
• 41-19: Bench points, and the clearest gap on the sheet.
• 18-5: New York's advantage in second-chance points. The Sparks' 21 rebounds were the fewest by any Liberty opponent this season.
• 30-21: The Sparks' edge in points off turnovers. New York's 18 giveaways kept this alive.
• 14 of 16 vs. 5 of 7: Free throws. Nine extra makes in a four-point game will do it.

What It Means Out West

New York is 16-12 and 8-7 on the road, with three straight wins on the heels of four straight losses. The win also evens the season series at 1-1 after a 98-97 loss in this same building on June 21. The Liberty say no team with a first-year WNBA head coach has ever scored more than their 113 in regulation. Next up is a trip to Las Vegas on Thursday.

The Sparks are 10-17 and 5-9 at home, with six straight losses and nine in their last 11. They visit Portland on Sunday.

Somebody Check for a Coin Slot

This game belonged on an arcade cabinet in the back of a pizza place. NBA Jam had roughly the same defensive philosophy, and by the fourth quarter you half expected the net to catch fire every time Ionescu touched the ball. New York gets the win and the season highs. Los Angeles gets 35 assists, 109 points, 60 percent shooting and a sixth straight loss, which is one of the harder sentences to explain to a fan base on the drive home.

Stats from the official box score via ESPN. Game notes from the New York Liberty. Context as reported by the Associated Press.