Ionescu scores 36 points and Liberty advance to WNBA semifinals with 91-82 win over Dream

NEW YORK (AP) — Sabrina Ionescu tied a franchise playoff record with 36 points and the New York Liberty beat the Atlanta Dream 91-82 on Tuesday night to advance to the semifinals of the WNBA playoffs.

Jonquel Jones added 20 points and 13 rebounds for the top-seeded Liberty, who swept the best-of-three series and will face either Las Vegas or Seattle in the next round that begins Sunday in New York.

The Liberty took a one-point lead into the fourth quarter and the teams went back and forth before a layup by Courtney Vandersloot made it 75-72 with 5:41 left and started a 12-2 run. Breanna Stewart followed later in the spurt by swooping in for an offensive tip-in. It was her first points since the second quarter.

Leonie Fiebich, who scored 21 points in the opening game, then had a three-point play to extend the advantage to 82-74 with 4:11 left. She then hit a 3-pointer on the next possession to give New York a double-digit advantage for the first time in the game.

Atlanta couldn’t get closer than seven the rest of the way.

Allisha Gray and Rhyne Howard did all they could to try and stave off elimination. Gray finished with 26 points and Howard added 19. She also had a massive block on Stewart on a fast break in the third quarter.

Unlike Game 1, when New York jumped all over Atlanta, the Dream got off to a quick start behind Gray. They led 28-19 as Gray had 14 points in the opening 10 minutes, hitting all five of her shots, including four 3-pointers.

Atlanta was up 11 in the second quarter before Ionescu started hitting deep 3s. She rallied the Liberty to take a brief 40-36 lead before the Dream closed the half on a 12-3 run to go up 48-43 at the break.

Ionescu tied Cappie Pondexter for the most points by a Liberty player in the postseason.

The game drew another sellout crowd for New York that included Olympian Gabby Thomas, singer Pharrell as well as Spike Lee and Whoopi Goldberg. Rapper Ja Rule performed at halftime.

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AP WNBA: https://apnews.com/hub/wnba-basketball