The eighth seed has eliminated the first, and New York did not need a deciding game to do it. Jonquel Jones and Breanna Stewart scored 21 points apiece as the Liberty beat Minnesota 87–71 on Tuesday, September 29, at Barclays Center, completing a two-game sweep and advancing to the WNBA semifinals.
New York is the first #8 seed in WNBA history to knock out a #1 seed, a matchup that has existed only since the league adopted one-through-eight playoff seeding in 2022. Minnesota finished with the league’s best regular-season record, then lost Game 1 at home 91–75 as Stewart scored 34. The Liberty, champions in 2024, were not a typical eighth seed: Jones entered the playoffs nursing an ankle she rolled in the regular-season finale, and Stewart sat out that game with left knee soreness. New York will face the winner of Atlanta–Washington in a semifinal series beginning Sunday.
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