Breanna Stewart scored 34 as the No. 8 Liberty beat the top-seeded Lynx, and the Aces, Dream, and Valkyries won at home in WNBA playoffs Game 1s.
The No. 8 New York Liberty beat the top-seeded Minnesota Lynx 91-75 in Minneapolis on Sunday afternoon. The three other higher seeds won on their home floors as the WNBA playoffs opened with all four first-round Game 1s on the same day.
The Las Vegas Aces beat the Indiana Fever 102-85. The Atlanta Dream beat the Washington Mystics 92-77, and the Golden State Valkyries closed the night by beating the Dallas Wings 104-80 at Chase Center.
Every first-round series is best-of-three. The lower seed hosts Game 2, so the Lynx go to New York facing elimination while the Fever, Mystics, and Wings play at home. The full bracket and schedule are in Roundtable's first-round playoff preview.
Liberty vs. Lynx
Breanna Stewart finished with 34 points, 12 rebounds, 6 assists, 2 steals, and 2 blocks. She shot 11-of-18 from the field and 10-of-12 at the free-throw line. Napheesa Collier, her former college teammate, guarded her most of the afternoon.
The 34 points left Stewart two short of the Liberty's franchise record for a playoff game.
Minnesota led 44-40 at halftime. New York won the third quarter 25-16 and the fourth 26-15, and the Lynx never led by more than 6.
Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve said Minnesota was grinding too much on offense even while it held that first-half lead.
"We did a solid job in the first half and then we just fouled, fouled, fouled," Reeve said. "We can't give her 12 free throws. Fouling at the end of the shot clock is just not smart."
New York went 13-of-25 from 3-point range. Leonie Fiebich made 4 of her 5 attempts from deep and scored 16 points. Jonquel Jones played through an ankle injury and had 8 points.
Taking home-court advantage from the top seed does not mean New York can relax, and Stewart told her teammates as much.
"We knew the shots that we were going to get," Stewart said. "We had a few days to really practice that and be intentional, and whenever we were able to draw two — kick it to the open person, and shoot it with confidence."
Last season, the Liberty won Game 1 of their first-round series in Phoenix in overtime. They lost Game 2 in New York by 26 points and were eliminated by the Mercury.
Nia Brodie led Minnesota with 16 points in 19 minutes off the bench and went 4-of-5 from 3-point range. Kayla McBride scored 14 after missing her first five 3-point attempts. Olivia Miles had 11 points on 3-of-12 shooting and 1 assist in her postseason debut, and Collier finished with 12 points on 6-of-14.
Sabrina Ionescu added 13 points for New York.
Minnesota went 33-11 in the regular season, the best record in the league. New York finished 26-18. Game 2 is Tuesday at 8:30 p.m. ET on USA Network in New York. A Game 3, if needed, would be Thursday at Target Center.
Aces vs. Fever
A'ja Wilson had 38 points, 16 rebounds, and 4 blocks on 15-of-19 shooting. The 38 points matched her career postseason high. The AP named her its WNBA Player of the Year earlier Sunday for the third straight season.
Wilson had 22 points on 9-of-11 shooting by halftime. Las Vegas led 62-47 at the break, one point short of the franchise record for a playoff half, set with 63 against Phoenix on Aug. 20, 2022. Las Vegas led by as many as 27.
"She understands the stakes fully," Aces coach Becky Hammon said, according to the AP. "She was a clinic tonight."
Jackie Young added 21 points and 10 assists. Chelsea Gray had 14 points and 8 assists, which gave her 397 career playoff assists and moved her past Courtney Vandersloot (390) into second in league history. Jewell Loyd scored 10.
When Wilson is playing like that, Gray's approach is to get out of the way.
"It's a blessing to be able to see this every single day," Gray said. "I say this all the time, you can't wait till a person retires to appreciate greatness. You've got to appreciate it while it's happening."
Caitlin Clark finished with 15 points and 10 assists on 6-of-17 shooting, with 6 turnovers. Aliyah Boston scored 18 points with 8 rebounds while hampered by a lower leg injury. Kelsey Mitchell, who put together a record 27-game streak of 20-point games, scored 12 on 4-of-16 shooting.
Indiana played without Tyasha Harris, who is out for the playoffs with a broken fibula. Off the bench, Raven Johnson scored 14 on 6-of-7 shooting and Sophie Cunningham added 13.
Fever coach Stephanie White said the 28 points Las Vegas scored off Indiana's 17 turnovers hurt the Fever.
"Give Vegas credit," White said. "They're defending champions for a reason. They understand the moment. They understand the playoffs require a different level of intensity and urgency, and they came with it."
Clark gave Indiana's defense an F.
"I thought our actions were sloppy," Clark said. "I thought what we were running wasn't great and nobody got an easier open look."
Game 2 is Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. ET on Prime Video in Indianapolis. A Game 3 would be Thursday in Las Vegas.
Dream vs. Mystics
Rhyne Howard scored 26 points with 5 steals. She shot 7-of-18 from the field and 10-of-10 at the line.
Atlanta's 16 steals set a franchise playoff record and came two short of the WNBA record of 18, set by Indiana in 2009. Washington committed 22 turnovers, and the Dream scored 27 points off them.
Washington led by as many as 11 in the first half and was up 41-36 at halftime. Allisha Gray capped a 7-0 run to open the third quarter with a 3-pointer that gave Atlanta its first lead since the opening minute. DeWanna Bonner then scored 11 of her 13 points during an 18-5 run that made it 61-48 with 2:29 left in the quarter. Washington trailed by at least 7 the rest of the way.
Atlanta won the third quarter 29-12.
Gray finished with 22 points. Angel Reese had 13 points and 12 rebounds in her first career playoff game while shooting 4-of-15. Jordin Canada scored 10.
Howard expects Game 2 to be harder than Game 1.
"We have a team full of defensive-minded players, people that can do it on both ends, and that is going to be helpful for us in this run in this postseason," Howard said.
Sonia Citron led Washington with 25 points. Kiki Iriafen had 15 points and 14 rebounds, 9 of them on the offensive glass, and Shakira Austin added 12 points and 16 rebounds.
The Dream finished the regular season 30-14. Washington went 28-16 and won two of the three regular-season meetings. The Mystics are in the playoffs for the first time since 2023.
Game 2 is Wednesday at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN in Washington. A Game 3 would be Friday in Atlanta.
Valkyries vs. Wings
Golden State outscored Dallas 37-11 in the second quarter, a WNBA postseason record for points in a second quarter, and led 58-31 at halftime. The Valkyries shot 13-of-18 in the period, including 7-of-10 from 3-point range, and did not turn the ball over.
Paige Bueckers scored 21 points on 9-of-10 shooting in her first WNBA playoff game, one point shy of the Wings' franchise record for a postseason debut. She had 17 of them by halftime on 7-of-8 shooting. She sat the entire fourth quarter with Dallas down 85-56.
Bueckers took the second quarter on herself.
"Their defense is really good, and they start with that. They don't let their offense dictate their defense," Bueckers said. "It's really the other way around. So when they're flying around, getting stops, shots tend to go in more for them. So it's tough on a team like that where you're never going to get their worst night defensively."
"They might miss shots, they might miss threes, they might have an off night shooting, but they're always locked in defensively, and I think we can take something from that," Bueckers continued. "We've been a team that has a bad habit of letting made or missed shots dictate how hard we play on the defensive end, and this is the playoffs. So that's really unacceptable."
Golden State made 18 of its 36 3-point attempts. The 18 makes were the second-most by a team in a WNBA postseason game. Dallas went 6-of-20 from deep.
Cecilia Zandalasini scored 22 points in 15:52 and went 4-of-5 from 3-point range. Tiffany Hayes had 21 points on 7-of-10 shooting off the bench, and Gabby Williams added 20.
Going into the series, Wings coach Jose Fernandez asked for three things: fewer live-ball turnovers, the ball kept in front, and the 3-point line guarded. Fernandez said Dallas did neither of the last two.
"If you look at all three games, my previous three games, look at the first quarter scores. We've all been one possession, two possession games going in the second," Fernandez said. "Game one, second quarter, it was 27-7. Now look at game two, third quarter. I don't know how we lost the third quarter. And game three, 24-9 in the second quarter. So it was the same outcome tonight."
Golden State swept the regular-season series 3-0, winning by 11, 18, and 8 points. The Valkyries finished 32-12 as the No. 2 seed. Dallas went 27-17 and was playing its first postseason game since 2023.
Maddy Siegrist scored 11 in her first career postseason start. Kitija Laksa scored all 11 of her points in the fourth quarter. Arike Ogunbowale had 10 points on 2-of-7 shooting and went 6-of-6 at the line, and Jessica Shepard went 0-of-7.
Forward Alanna Smith was inactive with a lower left leg injury. Azzi Fudd, the first overall pick in April's draft, has been out since the team announced Aug. 19 that she would have season-ending arthroscopic surgery on her right knee.
Game 2 is Wednesday at 9 p.m. ET on ESPN at College Park Center in Arlington. A Game 3 would be Friday, Oct. 2, at Chase Center.
The semifinals begin Sunday, Oct. 4.
