Breanna Stewart, Leonie Fiebich lead Liberty comeback in win over Dream

Breanna Stewart on Sunday had trapped Allisha Gray near the sideline with her 7-foot-1 wingspan.

An off-balanced and visibility flustered Gray looked for someone to pass the ball off to before gravity finally won. 

Gray bounced the ball in frustration and was whistled for a technical as the Barclays Center crowd jumped to its feet. 

The fans’ screams were like the first rainfall amid the drought, and the Liberty soaked it all up. 

The Liberty looked lethargic and disjointed in the first half and trailed by 11 at the half. 

But Stewart – with her rebounding, defense and scoring – and Leonie Fiebich – with her timely 3s and aggressive shot hunting – helped lead a third-quarter resurgence. 

Fiebich drained back-to-back shots from behind the arc to give New York its first lead since the opening quarter. 

The Liberty never trailed again.

With less than a minute left in the game, Stewart stole the ball away from Maya Caldwell and Fiebich corralled the ball. The German wing then fed Stewart for a layup in transition.

New York ultimately beat the Dream 79-72. 

The fourth quarter was the way the Liberty should’ve played all game. They communicated on defense, were aggressively crashing the glass and they were making shots. 

It was a complete 180 from the way New York played for most of the first half. 

Fiebich scored a career-high 21 points on a wildly efficient 8 of 9 shooting (4-for-5 from deep).

Stewart finished with a double-double of 18 points and 10 rebounds. 

Sunday was the type of gritty win the Liberty needed with the All-Star break on the horizon. 

A loss would’ve put New York in jeopardy of potentially falling to fourth place in the league standings. 

But the Liberty, now 14-6, remain in third. They have one game left – the Fever on Wednesday – before Sandy Brondello, Stewart and Sabrina Ionescu head to Indianapolis for the All-Star festivities.