By Charlie Gainor, Staff Writer

After a thrilling championship battle, the New York Liberty defeated the Minnesota Lynx in overtime to secure their first Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) championship in franchise history.

After back-to-back years of losing to the Las Vegas Aces in the championship, the Liberty took a spot at the top of the league, welcoming new viewership with the emergence of Indiana Fever sensation Caitlin Clark. Led by all-star shooters Sabrina Ionescu and Breanna Stewart, the Liberty finished with a 32-8 record, the most wins in a season in Liberty franchise history and second-most in WNBA history.

Opposing them were the Minnesota Lynx, who returned to the WNBA Finals for the first time since the surprise departure of forward Maya Moore from basketball in 2019. Seeking what would have been their fifth WNBA title, Minnesota was led by 2024 Defensive Player of the Year Napheesa Collier. 

With the best offensive team going up against the best defensive team, the outcome of the finals was hard to predict. In game one, New York looked to be making a statement as they created an 18-point lead in the first half. Though the Lynx would cut it to two in the third quarter, the Liberty put their foot on the gas to build the lead back to 15 with five minutes to go.

Lynx guard Courtney Williams led a furious 18-2 run, capped by a three pointer with 5.5 seconds left to pull off the largest comeback in WNBA Finals history and giving Minnesota the first game of the series. 

Though Minnesota looked to be stealing game two as well, 20-point performances from forwards Breanna Stewart and Betnijah Laney-Hamilton helped the Liberty put away the Lynx and the series. New York entered the away portion of the series reeling after they fell behind by 15, but Stewart put up her second 30-point game in the playoffs to close the gap. Ionescu hit a half-court three-pointer with one second left to give the Liberty the win and the 2-1 series lead.

Game four was the closest game of the series, with no team amassing a of lead more than six points. A pair of free throws with two seconds left and a missed Ionescu three-pointer saw Minnesota even up the series and force a winner-take-all game five. Collier, who finished with 14 points, nine rebounds and four steals, helped hold Stewart to just 11 points. 

After four games of high-octane basketball with standout performances, game five was a slog. Both teams shot under 40% from the field and only the Lynx’s Collier and guard Kayla McBride scored over 20 points in the game. Though Minnesota pieced together a double-digit lead at the half, Stewart and forward Jonquel Jones led New York back into the game. Collier’s turnaround jumper gave her side the lead, but in the closing seconds a foul was called on the Lynx’s Alanna Smith that stood after the Lynx challenged the call.

Stewart, who had missed a free throw that would have won game one in regulation, was true from the line and tied the game at 60. In overtime, the Liberty held the Lynx to just two points and pulled away to secure the victory and win their first WNBA championship in franchise history.

Jones led the Liberty with 17 points and was selected as the finals MVP. Jones has appeared in the finals three times in the last five years, and she passed Diana Taurasi for the third-most points ever scored by a player in the WNBA Finals. Stewart collected her third consecutive double-double of the series, putting up 13 points and 15 rebounds.

The game was not without controversy. Along with the controversial call in the final seconds that forced overtime, New York shot 25 free throws while the Lynx shot eight. Both teams have been highly critical of the officiating throughout the series, but Lynx head coach Cheryl Reeve called the title stolen. 

 “These guys shot 30% (from the floor). Shot 30%,” Reeve said of the Liberty. “The difference was in the foul line.”

The WNBA championship wrapped up its most successful season in the association’s history. The league attracted over 54 million viewers for the whole season and nationally-broadcasted games averaged over 1 million viewers on CBS and ESPN. Attendance records were also shattered, with Caitlin Clark’s Indiana Fever helping set a new all-time single-team season attendance record north of 350,000 and brought out three games with over 20,000 in attendance.