Liberty vs. Tempo: Breanna Stewart Passes Cappie Pondexter for 8th on WNBA Career Scoring List in 106-69 Rout

Breanna Stewart needed roughly five minutes on Sunday afternoon to climb another rung on the WNBA's all-time ladder. Six early points at Coca-Cola Coliseum carried her past Cappie Pondexter and into eighth place on the league's career scoring list, and she spent the rest of a breezy 22-minute shift making sure the final score matched the occasion.

The New York Liberty flattened the Toronto Tempo 106-69 in front of 8,210 fans at the first-year club's home finale. Stewart finished with 27 points on 10-of-14 shooting, the Liberty splashed 16 3-pointers, and the margin peaked at 37 on the game's final basket. Nobody in Toronto needed a calculator for this one.

One Competitive Half, Then a Landslide

For about a quarter and a half, this was a real basketball game. Toronto even held the lead early, though the Tempo's biggest edge of the afternoon was two points. New York answered with an 8-0 burst in the middle of the first quarter, Stewart had nine points by the end of it, and the visitors led 26-19.

The Liberty stretched it to 12 in the second quarter, but Laura Juskaite and Kiki Rice kept the hosts within shouting distance, and the Tempo chipped the gap back to single digits. New York went to the locker room up 45-37. Considering what came next, that cushion was the calm before a very loud storm.

New York closed the half and opened the third on an 8-0 run that made it 49-37. A few minutes later, with Toronto still hanging around at 55-43, the Liberty reeled off 12 straight points to make it 67-43. New York won the third quarter 33-20 and carried a 78-57 lead into the fourth.

The final 10 minutes were a victory lap. A 10-0 run made it 93-65, and the Liberty closed the game on another 8-0 spurt. Marine Fauthoux, who had not scored before the last five minutes, piled up all nine of her points in that window, including the two driving layups that finished things off.

Stewie Keeps Climbing

Stewart filled the sheet: 27 points, eight boards, four assists, two steals and one block. She went 7 for 7 at the free-throw line, and she scored 14 points in the third quarter alone, which is roughly when the Tempo's afternoon went from difficult to hopeless.

The career milestone is the part that will last. On Friday in Minneapolis, Stewart had passed her former Seattle Storm teammate Sue Bird. On Sunday she cleared Pondexter's 6,811 points, and the AP put her new total at 6,833, with Candice Dupree's 6,895 next on the board. The Liberty added two more entries to the ledger: Stewart climbed past Lisa Leslie into 15th place on the league's career list for made field goals, and she tied Maya Moore's WNBA single-season record with her 32nd straight game of at least 10 points plus a block or a steal.

She also arrived with fresh hardware, since the AP noted she was the MVP of the women's FIBA World Cup. Twenty-two minutes, 27 points. That is the basketball version of finishing the exam early and strolling out while everyone else is still stuck on question three.

The Bench Mob Ate Too

Rebecca Allen gave New York 14 points off the bench and accounted for four of the 16 made 3s, a season high for her according to the team. Marine Johannes added three triples and nine points, Han Xu scored seven in her 100th career WNBA game, and Madison Scott made her Liberty debut with four points. New York's reserves outscored Toronto's 46-9, which is less a stat and more a cry for help.

Among the starters, Jonquel Jones scored 11 with two blocks, and Pauline Astier put up 10 points with a career-high nine rebounds. Sabrina Ionescu went just 1 for 8 from the floor, but she still handed out a game-high nine assists, and the Liberty assisted on 29 of their 39 field goals.

Juskaite Deserved Better

Toronto's bright spot was a big one. Juskaite poured in a career-high 28 points on 10-of-15 shooting and went 8 for 8 at the line, and Rice added 19 on 9-of-16 shooting. The rest of the roster combined for 22 points. Isabelle Harrison went 1 for 10, Maria Conde went 0 for 8 and Kia Nurse went 0 for 5, and the Tempo were outscored 28-12 in the fourth.

The Turning Point

The 12-0 run in the third quarter. Toronto trailed 55-43 and still had a pulse. Over a little more than two minutes, New York scored a dozen unanswered points and stretched the lead to 24, and the rest of the afternoon played out like the Liberty were filming their own highlight reel.

Stats That Matter

• 2 of 22: Toronto's 3-point shooting, good for 9%. The Liberty said it was the lowest percentage and the fewest made 3s by any New York opponent this season.
• 46-9: New York's bench scoring advantage.
• 29 of 39: The share of Liberty field goals that came off an assist.
• 7-1: The block count, with Jones and Allen swatting two apiece.

What It Means

New York improved to 26-16 overall and 12-10 on the road, and has now won three in a row. The win also gave the Liberty a 2-1 edge in the season series, a little revenge for a 93-91 loss in Toronto on July 12. According to the AP, New York's final playoff position could fall anywhere between fourth and eighth with two games remaining, and both of those are home dates with Atlanta, on Monday and Wednesday. First-round home court is still within reach.

Toronto dropped to 11-31 overall and 7-15 at home. The Tempo have lost six straight and 18 of the 19 games they have played since that July win over New York. They finish at Chicago on Tuesday.

Closing Take

Two legends passed in three days: Bird on Friday, Pondexter on Sunday, and Dupree is the next name on the list. Stewart is moving up the all-time chart like a song that just went viral, climbing again every time you check. Toronto just happened to be the latest stop on the tour.

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