JONQUEL JONES HELPS LIBERTY HAND SUN FIRST LOSS OF SEASON

By DOUG FEINBERG AP Basketball Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — had a cushy lead in Game 6 before Miami rallied back to take a one-point lead with 3 seconds left.

Breanna Stewart scored 11 of her 21 points in the decisive third quarter to lift the New York Liberty to an 81-65 win over the Connecticut Sun on Saturday.

The Heat appeared to clinch it when Marcus Smart’s desperation 3-pointer rimmed out, but White scored on a putback in the final 10th of a second to force a decisive seventh game.

Back at home, the Celtics greeted their fans with a pregame video intercutting highlights from the Red Sox comeback with their own. 2004 Red Sox catalyst Kevin Millar recorded a message to hype up the crowd.

But the heavily favoured Celtics couldn’t repeat the feat.

Jonquel Jones scored the first basket of the game, but didn’t do too much after that, finishing with seven points for the Liberty. Stewart, who scored a franchise and career-high 45 points in her home debut last Sunday, took over in the third. Saturday marked the first regular season game that Jones played against her former team. The 2021 MVP was traded in the offseason from Connecticut to New York as part of a three-way deal that sent Liberty guard Rebecca Allen to the Sun. Jones had played her entire career with Connecticut since being acquired in a draft day trade in 2016 from Los Angeles. The Liberty trailed 38-32 at the half before putting up 25 points in the period. Stewart hit three of New York’s five 3-pointers in the quarter and also had four steals to give the Liberty a 57-51 lead heading into the fourth.

Courtney Vandersloot kept the momentum going in the final quarter, both by scoring and finding open teammates. She finished with 18 points and 10 assists for the Liberty (2-1). Sabrina Ionescu added 17 points.

Tiffany Hayes scored 16 points and DeWanna Bonner added 14 to lead the Sun (3-1), who lost in the WNBA Finals last season.