Angel Reese and the Dream Sweep the Liberty 85-83 to Reach the WNBA Finals
Angel Reese scored 22, DeWanna Bonner hit two free throws with 6.2 seconds left, and Atlanta beat New York 85-83 to sweep the semifinals and reach its first WNBA Finals since 2013.
Photo: WNBA.com. Official Angel Reese headshot, Atlanta Dream.
DeWanna Bonner went to the line with 6.2 seconds left. She made both free throws, and the Atlanta Dream went up 85-81 at Barclays Center. Breanna Stewart's putback at the horn only cut the final to 85-83. Atlanta closed a 3-0 semifinal sweep of New York and is headed to the WNBA Finals for the first time since 2013, per ESPN.
Angel Reese led Atlanta with 22 points, 9 rebounds and 2 blocks, and she went 6 of 6 at the line. Rhyne Howard added 21. Jordin Canada scored 19 with 11 assists and no turnovers in 38 minutes. Stewart and Jonquel Jones each scored 26 for New York, and Jones grabbed 14 boards.
The free-throw line decided it
Canada went 8 of 8. Reese went 6 of 6. Bonner went 5 of 5, and the last two sealed it. Atlanta hit 22 of 24 free throws as a team.
New York got there too. Stewart was 13 of 13 from the stripe. But Sabrina Ionescu went 4 of 11 from three and never got to the line, and the Liberty needed her to bend the floor in a two-point game. Her last look was a missed 30-footer with 3 seconds left, down four.
Canada ran the whole thing
Eleven assists against zero turnovers in a closeout road game is the stat line to rewind. Canada played 38 minutes. Reese still missed 11 shots. She also put 5 offensive rebounds back into the possession count, to go with her 7 of 18 in a game decided by two points.
Howard took 21 shots and made 7. That is a lot of volume for a low hit rate. Atlanta lived with it because the other end held. Naz Hillmon went 0 for 7 and still finished plus-6 in 32 minutes, and she had the steal on Ionescu with 24 seconds left.
Bonner's 13 boards
The quiet line belongs to Bonner. Thirteen points, 13 rebounds, 12 of them on the defensive glass. Jones was a problem all night inside, 11 of 17 with 6 offensive rebounds. With 7.6 seconds left, Bonner grabbed Stewart's miss, and Ionescu fouled her to send her to the line.
What the sweep means
Atlanta won all three games against New York. Game 2 went to overtime, 101-98, and Game 3 was decided by two.
The other semifinal is Golden State against Las Vegas. The Valkyries led that series 2-0 entering Friday's Game 3 in Las Vegas.
For New York, the season ends in the semifinals. Stewart and Jones combined for 52 points. Nobody else on the roster scored more than 12.
Sources
- ESPN recap: Reese, Howard help the Dream sweep Liberty and advance to WNBA Finals for first time since 2013. Oct 9, 2026.
- ESPN box score and play-by-play: Dream at Liberty, WNBA Semifinals Game 3. Oct 9, 2026.
- The Dyme: 101-98 in Overtime Puts the Dream One Win From the WNBA Finals. Oct 7, 2026.
- Photo: WNBA.com. Official Angel Reese headshot, Atlanta Dream.
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