Breanna Stewart led five New York Liberty players in double figures with 24 points during a 91-80 cruising past the visiting Indiana Fever on Saturday afternoon.
The Liberty made 15 baskets from 3-point range in their home opener, helping overcome rookie Caitlin Clark’s 22 points and eight assists for the Fever.
Jonquel Jones supplied 14 points and 12 rebounds, Betnijah Laney-Hamilton pumped in 13 points, Sabrina Ionescu had 12 points and Courtney Vandersloot added 10 points for the Liberty.
The Liberty (3-0) beat the Fever (0-3) for the second time in three days, both by blowouts.
Clark, who was charged with eight turnovers, shot 9 of 17 from the field, including 4 of 10 on 3-pointers. Clark never attempted a free throw in a contest in which Indiana committed 16 turnovers.
Kelsey Mitchell’s 17 points, Aliyah Boston’s 12 points and NaLyssa Smith’s 11 points and eight rebounds helped Indiana.
Clark had 10 first-quarter points, so that eclipsed her total for the entire game from Thursday night. The overall No. 1 draft pick out of Iowa had more room to operate at times than in the first meeting of the season, but the Liberty still paid close attention to the young guard.
Indiana finished shooting 41.3 percent from the field, including 9-for-26 on 3-pointers.
Stewart went 8-for-8 at the free-throw so she outscored the Fever on foul shots. Indiana was 5-for-6.
The Liberty’s lead ballooned to 44-24 about 3 1/2 minutes into the second quarter with an 11-2 run. While the gap grew to as many as 23 points, the halftime score was 57-37.
Indiana ended up outscoring New York 21-16 in the third quarter, but trailed 73-58 going to the fourth quarter. After Mitchell’s 3-pointer opened the fourth-quarter scoring, the Liberty took over again.
Stewart posted the next four points on free throws and Laney-Hamilton drained a 3-pointer and Jones scored on a short jumper, pushing the margin to 82-61 with about seven minutes to play.
Jones, Vandersloot and Ionescu all delivered five assists.
–Field Level Media
