Breanna Stewart and New York Liberty lament lost opportunity to win Game 1 of WNBA Finals

NEW YORK — Breanna Stewart and the New York Liberty were left thinking about what could have been.

The Liberty had an 18-point lead in the first half and an 11-point advantage with 3:23 left in regulation before Game 1 of the WNBA Finals slipped away and with it homecourt advantage in the best-of-five series.

The two-time MVP had a chance at the end of regulation to give New York the victory, but the second of her two free throws rimmed out. She then had another opportunity to tie the game at the buzzer in overtime, but her layup fell harmlessly off the basket giving the Lynx the 95-93 victory.

''I want to be taking these shots. I feel like knowing my teammates and that everyone has confidence in me is important. It's kind of like on to the next and still making sure I'm aggressive any time on the court,'' Stewart said. ''Obviously as a player, it's very frustrating. But bounce back for Game 2.''

In reflecting on which one stung worse, Stewart went with the foul shot.

''I think the missed free throw because we had an opportunity to go up one,'' said Stewart, a career 84% free-throw shooter. "But even still, at the end of overtime, I had probably one of my cleanest looks. Didn't make it.

Everything was going well for New York at the start as the team scored 32 points in the first quarter. The Liberty only had 12 points in the second, allowing Minnesota to get back in the game and start its historic comeback.

New York has now been on both sides of 18-point comebacks in the Finals. The Liberty rallied from 18-down in Game 2 of the 1999 Finals and beat Houston on Teresa Weatherspoon's famous halfcourt buzzer beater.

With this loss Thursday night, New York fell to 0-6 in Game 1 of the Finals in franchise history. The Liberty, who had the best record in the regular season, were left shaking their heads after the game.

''Defensively, I think they executed better than us. That's what it came down to,'' New York coach Sandy Brondello said. ''They executed better than us. They found a way to win. They made some big shots, timely shots when they needed to. We're disappointed. We have to be better. We're a better team than what we showed today.''

New York can take some positives from the loss into Game 2 on Sunday. The team got 90 shots, although the Liberty only hit 34 of them. They also had 20 offensive rebounds to five for Minnesota.

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