Sabrina Ionescu Tucks Lynx In After Liberty Rivalry Win

Respond they did, with a decisive 85-75 win, defeating the Lynx for the first time in 2025.

"Night, night," Liberty point guard Sabrina Ionescu quipped in her postgame on-court interview, much to the delight of a raucous Barclays Center crowd.

Ionescu was instrumental in the winning effort, notching a season-high 11 assists as part of a 17-point double-double. Her biggest buckets came in the final minute, with New York clinging onto a 79-75 lead amidst a late fourth-quarter surge from Minnesota.

Moments after corralling an offensive rebound, Ionescu drilled a 30-point three-point dagger with 33.9 seconds left, drawing a flagrant foul in the process. A 1-for-2 trip at the line increased New York's lead to eight points, all but sealing a Liberty win.

The victory snapped a two-game skid, New York finally triumphing over Minnesota in their fourth and final meeting of the season.

Liberty Get Last Laugh in Season Series Finale Against Lynx

If this year's regular-season series has revealed anything, it's that there's no love lost between the Lynx and Liberty.

New York and Minnesota clashed in the 2024 WNBA Finals, an electric five-game series that saw the Liberty hoist their first championship trophy. In the aftermath, frustration boiled over for the Lynx, rooted in a controversial foul call on Alanna Smith that sent the winner-take-all game to overtime.

To their credit, Minnesota has bounced back about as well as a team can after a devastating championship defeat. Even after Tuesday's loss, the Lynx sit comfortably atop the standings with a dominant 28-6 record.

Williams has candidly expressed her dislike of New York and her desire to get revenge after coming up short in the 2024 finals.

Her competitive edge translated to the court, fueling fiery battles and playoff-like atmospheres in every meeting between the Lynx and Liberty this season.

Minnesota jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the regular-season series, outpacing the Liberty by 25 points across three games. But for now, it's New York who gets the last laugh, putting together one of their strongest all-around efforts since Breanna Stewart went down with a knee injury.

When healthy, the Liberty and Lynx are the two best teams in the WNBA, pound for pound. Although each is down a star right now -- Stewart for New York and Napheesa Collier for Minnesota -- the expectation is that both will return in time for the playoffs.

In a perfect world, this regular-season series was merely an appetizer. One can only imagine what drama a postseason collision course would deliver.