Lynx and Liberty fans alike filled the UBS arena on Tuesday, June 25th in Elmont, New York to watch the
4th annual WNBA Commissioner’s Cup Championship, presented by Coinbase.
Lynx and Liberty fans alike filled the UBS arena on Tuesday, June 25th in Elmont, New York to watch the 4th annual WNBA Commissioner’s Cup Championship, presented by Coinbase.
The Minnesota Lynx (3rd in the WNBA standings) defeated the defending Cup champions, the New York Liberty (1st in the WNBA standings) in one of the most thrilling Cup games to date, with a final score of 94-89.
The action began with a starting lineup of Courtney Williams, Kayla McBride (our birthday girl!), Bridget Carleton, Alanna Smith and Napheesa Collier for the Lynx.
Sabrina Ionescu, Kayla Thornton, Breanna Stewart, Jonquel Jones and Betnijah Laney-Hamilton started things off here for the New York Liberty.
The first quarter started with New York winning the tip, the ball in Sabrina Ionescu’s hands as she dished it out, cut back to the basket and scored the first bucket of the game, getting the fans excited early.
Courtney Williams then had a quick answer with a long 2-point basket, followed by several minutes of back-and-forth play before Ionescu squared up to the basket again for three, scoring the first five for the Liberty.
The homecourt crowd and energy for the Liberty quickly heated up as Kayla Thornton added five points of her own to the score and Breanna Stewart drove to the basket, scored and got the foul with just under four minutes remaining in the quarter.
With under a minute and thirty seconds left in the quarter, a fifth Liberty turnover leads to a bucket by the Lynx resulting in a 20-20 tie, but after some more back-and-forth action the first quarter ended 23-27 in favor of the Liberty.
The second quarter started off with three lead changes and a tie, but Sabrina Ionescu had an answer as she went off for 11 points, stretching the Liberty lead to ten with under four minutes remaining in the half.
The Lynx answered and pushed the pace, finding open threes and strapping up on defense to get within a possession by the end of the second quarter with a score of 47-50 in favor of the Liberty.
After the first half of basketball, both teams shot from over 50% from the field, the Lynx capitalizing a bit more on points off turnovers with 12 total compared to six from the Liberty.
The Liberty had an edge in total rebounds, 19 in comparison to 13 for the Lynx.
Minnesota took the lead early in the third quarter, but another basket and a foul drawn by Breanna Stewart got the Liberty back on top with just under seven minutes remaining.
To end the third quarter, the Lynx took a six-point edge, 66-60.
Natisha Hiedeman started off all scoring in the fourth quarter, adding to the Lynx points off turnovers with a steal and an easy layup.
Just as the Lynx extended their lead to ten points, Liberty’s Breanna Stewart got hot from the field, scoring nine straight points and putting New York behind by just a single point.
The Lynx push the pace again, leading 88-81 with under a minute left in the final quarter when a 3-point basket by Laney-Hamilton brought the score to 88-84 still in favor of the Lynx.
A Lynx freethrow put them at 90, while another Ionescu floater brought the Liberty to 86.
Despite their best efforts, the Liberty fell to the Lynx when the final buzzer sounded, with a final score of 94-89.
The Minnesota Lynx were crowned the new 2024 Commissioner’s Cup Champions, and forward Napheesa Collier was named the Most Valuable Player with 21 points, 6 rebounds and 3 assists.
Four other Lynx players ended the game with double-digits, Bridget Carleton (23 pts), Kayla McBride (12 pts), Courtney Williams (11 pts) and Cecilia Zandalasini (15 pts).
Top performers for the New York Liberty were Breanna Stewart (24 pts, 11 rebounds), Sabrina Ionescu (23 pts, 10 rebounds), Kayla Thornton (17 pts) and Betnijah Laney-Hamilton (13 pts, 6 assists).
One key difference from this Cup and last season’s Cup was more of a sense of urgency – this year teams played a total of five games against each of their in-conference rivals during a two-week period, with the championship taking place more towards the middle of the season as opposed to the end.
Teams competed for a $500,000 prize pool amongst other prizes, including a $10,000 donation to the non-profit organization of the winning team, and a $5,000 donation to the runner-up.
Minnesota played for Gender Justice and the Liberty represented Women Creating Change.
This game will not count towards the regular season nor do player statistics count towards the regular season for the players.
