Breanna Stewart scored 23 of her 30 points in the second half, French rookie Pauline Astier had a massive fourth quarter and the host New York Liberty pulled out an 83-75 win over the Indiana Fever on Saturday night.
Astier had eight of her 12 points in the fourth, Satou Sabally poured in 13 points off the bench and Jonquel Jones added eight points and a game-high 12 rebounds as New York (7-4) won its fourth straight game.
Stewart went 18-for-21 from the free-throw line and the Liberty made 33 of 40 foul shots to fuel their victory after trailing by as many as 12 in the second half. They also piled up 40 points in the paint to secure a win despite season-low shooting marks from the field (36.4%) and beyond the arc (11.1%).
Kelsey Mitchell led the Fever (5-5) with 21 points, Monique Billings had 15, Aliyah Boston scored 13 and Caitlin Clark came close to a triple-double with 10 points, seven boards and nine assists. All five Fever starters had six or more rebounds, led by Boston’s nine and Billings’ eight.
The Fever were whistled for 27 fouls, including five apiece from Clark and Boston.
Clark’s 30-footer opened the second-half scoring and kicked off an 11-2 run to establish the first of three 12-point leads. Later on, it was 57-45 Fever when the Liberty reset the table with a 9-0 run to end the quarter. New York went 5-for-5 at the foul line in the final 2:22 and Stewart knocked down a turnaround with 10.7 seconds left.
With Sabrina Ionescu (back) out once again, the Liberty were thin at point guard and Stewart spent stretches of the second half initiating the offense.
Clark picked up her fourth and fifth fouls less than a minute apart — Stewart drawing the latter for New York — and checked out with 6:26 on the clock. Soon after, Jones connected with Stewart for a leaping layup through contact, and both players added a pair of free throws to tie the game at 66.
Stewart drew another foul at the four-minute mark and hit both shots for the Liberty’s first lead since the first four minutes of the game. Clark re-entered at that point.
The Liberty scored on their next four possessions, starting with two more Stewart free throws. Astier then had her terrific sequence. She drove for a layup with a nice move, bounced a pass around Clark to feed Jones at the low block for an assist, then beat Clark for another layup and a 76-70 lead with 1:26 left.
–Field Level Media
