Stewart and Fiebich lead Liberty past Fever 102-99

New York fought hard for every point down the final stretch to secure a victory. Breanna Stewart, the two-time WNBA Finals MVP, delivered with twenty-two points while Leonie Fiebich made an immediate mark in her first game back since July 3 by scoring twenty points. The Liberty held off the Indiana Fever with a final score of one zero nine to one zero two on Saturday night. Jonquel Jones added nineteen points and ten rebounds for New York, which improved its record to twenty-three wins and fifteen losses.

The contest remained tied at one hundred before Stewart split her pair of free throws to put the Liberty ahead. Following an Indiana miss, Fiebich converted a basket through contact with fifty-seven point five seconds remaining on the clock, though she missed the ensuing free throw. Caitlin Clark had a chance to answer on the other end, but her driving layup would not fall as Fiebich came down with the rebound. Astier then drew a foul with less than thirty seconds remaining and sank both free throws to give New York a five-point cushion.

Both teams understood how important this game was since playoff positioning hung in the balance and the standings were tight from third through eighth place. New York led by four at halftime, and then Sabrina Ionescu and Fiebich got going late in the period. The pair combined for nineteen of the Liberty's thirty-one points as New York extended its lead to eighty-five to seventy-eight heading into the fourth quarter. Indiana rallied to tie it on Kelsey Mitchell's three-pointer with one minute forty-four seconds left before the final buzzer sounded. Mitchell finished with twenty-five points, Aliyah Boston had twenty-two, and Clark tallied twenty-one.

New York finally fielded its full lineup healthy for the first time in nearly six weeks as Fiebich played her first game since suffering a foot injury. Jones was back after missing most of the Liberty's last game against Chicago on Tuesday with a tweaked left ankle. With Indiana visiting, there were rallies outside the arena before the game both for and against transgender women in sports. Fever reserve Sophie Cunningham had said in an ESPN profile published last month that she was opposed to transgender girls and women competing in girls' and women's sports. Cunningham was met with a mixture of boos and cheers from the sellout crowd. Jones got going early, as she has done ever since the All-Star break. The Liberty's six-foot-six center had seventeen points and seven rebounds at halftime as New York held a fifty-three to forty-nine advantage.

The Fever are in the middle of a brutal stretch of five road games in eight days. They have gone two wins and two losses so far.