NEW YORK – The franchise that won the first game in WNBA history has finally won the final game of the season.

Nearly 30 years since they played for the league’s inaugural championship and after several near misses, the New York Liberty are WNBA champions after a 67-62 overtime victory Sunday over the Minnesota Lynx.

Breanna Stewart sealed the victory with two free throws with 10.1 seconds left in overtime. After Leonie Fiebich stole a pass, the Liberty dribbled out the clock in a victory that was as hard-fought and dramatic as any victory in Game 5 of the WNBA Finals.

Liberty forward Jonquel Jones was named Finals MVP shortly after a game in which she led New York with 17 points.

“I never could have dreamed of this,” said Jones, who had previously lost twice in the WNBA Finals – once to the Connecticut Sun and last year to New York. “You know how many times I’ve been rejected. It’s been postponed. I’m so happy I can do it here.’

The Liberty won 3-2 in a series marked by huge shots and big momentum shifts in the first three games. Little separated the teams in Game 4, which the Lynx won on two free throws with two seconds left.

In Game 5, in front of a packed house at Barclays Center, the Liberty fought back from a seven-point halftime deficit to take a 47–44 lead heading into the fourth quarter. That many years of waiting would amount to 10 minutes.

Or so it seemed.

Instead, these teams, who played each other nine times during the season, including the Commissioner’s Cup final in June, worked to overtime.

With 6.3 seconds left in regulation, the Liberty had the ball, trailing 60-58. Stewart was fouled by Alanna Smith, a call that challenged the Lynx. After the challenge was declared unsuccessful, Stewart hit both free throws to tie the game at 60–60. Kayla McBride missed a 3-pointer for Minnesota and the game went into overtime.

The OT period was a defensive battle, with both teams scoring just seven points before Stewart hit two free throws.

The title is extra special for Stewart, the team’s only native New Yorker who remembers attending Liberty games as a child. A former two-time champion with the Seattle Storm, she joined the Liberty before the 2023 season as the biggest free-agent signing in WNBA history.

“When I left Seattle, I kind of started a new chapter,” Stewart said. “And went to a place that was already building, where I wanted to take over the responsibility and leadership to take this team to a championship level.”

The Liberty gave the Big Apple its first professional basketball championship since 1973. That was the NBA title for the New York Knicks, who was born 16 years before the birth of the oldest player on the Liberty roster, guard Courtney Vandersloot. A city that loves hoops and winners can combine both again.

After five previous attempts to win the title – beginning in 1997, the WNBA’s inaugural year – the Liberty now have a crown to match their iconic torch logo.

Disappointed after losing 3-1 to the Aces in the finals last year, Stewart did not have her best game offensively in Game 5 as she was 4 of 15 from the field and 5 of 8 from the foul line for 13 points. But she was strong on defense and had 15 rebounds.

Stewart, Jones and Sabrina Ionescu were the Liberty’s top three scorers in the regular season and the playoffs. Ionescu, the No. 1 draft pick in 2020, made a 28-foot 3-pointer with 1 second left in Game 3, which now surpasses Teresa Weathersoon’s halfcourt deave that won Game 2 of the 1999 WNBA Finals as the biggest shot into Liberty’s history.

The day after Weatherspoon’s shot, the Liberty lost Game 3 and the title to Houston in what was then a best-of-three series. Ionescu’s shot Wednesday secured an 80-77 come-from-behind victory and gave the Liberty two chances to clinch the title. They fell short on the first attempt on Friday, but secured their championship on Sunday.

After watching the Aces celebrate last year’s title on the court in New York, the Liberty spent the season talking about the scars they were left with, as well as the lessons they learned.

The Liberty were a league-best 32-8, but had to get past Atlanta, last year’s nemesis Las Vegas, and then Minnesota, which had defeated New York for the Commissioner’s season title, in the playoffs Cup in June.

And they had to overcome a brutal loss in Game 1 of the Finals in Brooklyn, where they led by as many as 18 points and 15 with just over 5 minutes left, but then lost 95-93 in overtime. The Liberty knew they couldn’t afford to wallow in that missed opportunity; they won Game 2 at home 80-66.

Game 3 and its fantastic ending will go down as an epic in Liberty history, with many highs overshadowed by disappointments. The Game 4 loss added even more drama to what many consider the most competitive WNBA Finals ever. And Game 5 was a catharsis for the Liberty and their longtime fans.

The franchise that won the first WNBA game – on June 21, 1997 in Los Angeles – has reached its peak.

Just four years ago, Ionescu was the No. 1 pick but missed most of 2020 after suffering an ankle injury in the third game of her rookie year. The Liberty finished 2-20 in the COVID-19 shortened season.

The Liberty went 12-20 and returned to the playoffs in 2021. Sandy Brondello took over as coach in 2022 and New York went 16-20. The additions of Stewart, Jones and Vandersloot in 2023 were huge pieces of the puzzle, creating back-to-back 32-8 seasons and Finals appearances.

“To be able to see what we’ve accomplished in such a short period of time is crazy to think,” said Ionescu, the only player on the 2020 roster still with the Liberty.

Stewart recalls having some hesitation before announcing her free agency decision in 2023.

“I thought, ‘Am I doing the right thing? I’m leaving my safe place Seattle,'” Stewart said. “But it was incredible. I’m back where I’m rooted. It feels like home.”

And now it’s a place to hang a championship banner.