Breanna Stewart, Liberty keep rolling, handle Dream

Breanna Stewart scored 25 of her 33 points before halftime and the host New York Liberty never trailed in a 95-84 victory over the Atlanta Dream on Thursday night.

Stewart notched her fourth 30-point game of the season and grabbed 12 rebounds. It was her 12th double-double of the season.

Stewart made 8 of 17 shots and sank 14 of 16 free throw attempts as the Liberty (18-5) won their fourth straight and continued the best start in team history two nights after overcoming an 18-point deficit to beat Seattle.

Jonquel Jones added 19 points and 13 rebounds and Betnijah Laney contributed 14 points for New York, which shot 48.5 percent and sank 11 3-pointers. Sabrina Ionescu chipped in 12 and nine assists after throwing out the ceremonial first pitch at Yankee Stadium Wednesday.

Allisha Gray scored 25 points to lead Atlanta (13-11), which was unable to match its win total from last year's 14-22 mark. Aari McDonald added 18, as the Dream fell to 8-3 in their past 11 contests by shooting 42.5 percent and misfiring on 18 of 26 3-point tries.

New York scored the first nine points and held a 23-9 lead on a putback by Nyara Sabally with 2:28 left before taking a 26-16 lead through the opening quarter. Gray's jumper moved Atlanta within 29-22 about two minutes into the second, and New York countered with a 15-4 burst for a 44-26 edge on Stewart's 18-footer with 4:27 left before opening a 57-42 halftime lead.

Atlanta outscored New York 24-16 during the third, when the Liberty shot 3-of-14, and cut the lead to 73-66 entering the fourth. New York pushed the lead back to 15 on two free throws by Jones with 7:22 remaining and clinched the win when consecutive 3s by Stewart and Ionescu opened a 92-78 edge with 3:09 left.