Breanna Stewart poured in 13 of her 24 points in the fourth quarter, and Leonie Fiebich matched her career-high with 21 as the New York Liberty rallied to beat the Seattle Storm 84-76 on Friday night, delaying Seattle’s chance to secure a playoff spot.
The Liberty (25-17) snapped a two-game losing streak and ended a five-game skid on the road. Kennedy Burke added 13 points in the win.
Seattle (22-21) still needs one more victory—or a loss by the Los Angeles Sparks—to lock up the final playoff berth.
Nneka Ogwumike led the Storm with 20 points, and Skylar Diggins scored 14.
New York outscored Seattle 45-29 after halftime, despite not taking its first lead until Burke opened the fourth quarter with a layup.
Ogwumike briefly put the Storm back in front, but Natasha Cloud’s 3-pointer swung momentum back to the Liberty.
Seattle narrowed the margin to 74-72 with 3:22 left, but New York never surrendered control.
The Liberty successfully challenged two late fouls in the final 1:42, including one that turned an offensive foul on Stewart into a shooting foul.
She hit the free throw to extend the lead to 79-74 with 46.8 seconds remaining.
Stewart went 13 of 14 from the free throw line, while Seattle as a team shot 12 of 15.
The Storm were outscored by nine points at the stripe.
Both teams attempted 20 shots from behind the arc, but New York connected on nine compared with Seattle’s four.
The Storm surged in the second quarter, putting up 31 points to lead 47-39 at halftime.
But they cooled off after the break, making just 10 of 31 shots in the second half.
Stewart reached her 153rd career game with at least 20 points, placing her fourth all-time in that category.
Ogwumike recorded her 275th career game scoring 15 or more, moving her into third place on that list.
The Storm close their regular season against Golden State Tuesday.
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