Stewart's 34 put the No. 8 Liberty one win from eliminating Minnesota

The eighth-seeded New York Liberty opened their WNBA first-round series with a 91-75 road win over the No. 1 Minnesota Lynx on Sunday. Breanna Stewart scored 34 points and grabbed 12 rebounds, giving New York the first victory in a best-of-three series that now shifts to Brooklyn.

Stewart's scoring was only part of her impact. She added six assists, two steals and two blocks while shooting 11 of 18 from the floor, according to the Associated Press game report. The performance put the Liberty within one home win of advancing and left Minnesota needing a Game 2 victory to keep its season alive.

Minnesota got 16 points from Nia Brodie off the bench and 14 from Kayla McBride. Napheesa Collier and Natasha Howard both fouled out, while rookie Olivia Miles finished with 11 points on 3-of-12 shooting. Those numbers describe a difficult opener for the Lynx, but they do not decide how the teams will respond on Tuesday.

Why the seedings did not settle this matchup

The seed gap made the final score startling, but the matchup was never a routine No. 1-versus-No. 8 pairing. The Liberty won two of their three regular-season meetings with Minnesota, according to the WNBA's series preview. New York also won the 2024 Finals against the Lynx in a deciding fifth game. Neither precedent guaranteed this result; Sunday's win had to be earned in Minneapolis.

The first-round format is 1-1-1, not a two-game homestand for the higher seed. Game 2 is Tuesday, September 29, at 8:30 p.m. Eastern in New York, with USA Network and CNBC listed by the WNBA for U.S. viewing. A Liberty win ends the series. A Lynx win would send a deciding Game 3 back to Minnesota on October 1.

Game 2 changes the pressure

The meaningful question now is whether New York can turn Stewart's dominant opener into a complete series win at home. Minnesota still has a path, but no longer has the margin for another loss. The Liberty's Game 1 lead is real; the upset is not complete until they win once more.