Breanna Stewart and Sabrina Ionescu lead Liberty to victory over Storm

SEATTLE (AP) — Breanna Stewart scored 32 points, Sabrina Ionescu added 25, and the New York Liberty defeated the Seattle Storm 98-85 on Friday night.

Leonie Fiebich contributed 12 points for the Liberty (27-7), who bounced back after a loss to the Los Angeles Sparks, ending a three-game West Coast road trip.

Jonquel Jones, who missed the last game due to illness, grabbed 11 rebounds as the Liberty dominated the boards 45-17, with 17 of them being offensive rebounds. New York shot 50.7% from the field and made 12 of 26 three-point attempts, helping offset turnovers that Seattle converted into 24 points.

Seattle (19-12) fell into a tie for fourth place with Las Vegas but secured a playoff spot due to losses by Atlanta and Chicago. Skylar Diggins-Smith scored 26 points for Seattle, Jewell Loyd had 20 points, and Nneka Ogwumike added 15.

There were seven ties and seven lead changes in the first quarter, with the Liberty leading 27-26 at the end of the quarter. New York then scored the first 11 points of the second quarter, with Stewart hitting two three-pointers. A driving layup by Stewart extended the lead to 40-30, but Seattle responded with an 8-0 run to take a 44-42 lead.

Diggins-Smith had 14 points and Ogwumike added 11 for Seattle, while Stewart finished with 22 points. Ionescu scored 12 points in the final 5 1/2 minutes to give New York a 74-71 lead after three quarters.

AP WNBA: https://apnews.com/hub/wnba-basketball