Sabrina Ionescu paused for a second and checked her feet to make sure she was behind the 3-point line. She took a breath then fired, draining a 3 to stretch the New York Liberty lead to 11 points. As she frolicked backward with just over seven minutes to play in the fourth quarter,

Stewart's 34 points and Ionescu's 21, including some highlight-reel three-pointers, led the Liberty over the Las Vegas Aces in Game 1 of a semifinal-round rematch of last year's finals.