MINNEAPOLIS – Sabrina Ionescu hit a tiebreaking 3-pointer with 1 second left and Breanna Stewart scored 30 points to help the New York Liberty beat the Minnesota Lynx 80-77 on Wednesday night to take a 2-1 lead in the WNBA Finals.

With the score tied at 77, Ionescu had the ball and dribbled around before pulling up a few steps behind the arc and hitting from 28 feet to break the tie.

“I couldn’t really remember. I had to look at the video really quickly to see how far I was,” Ionescu said. “In the timeout, Sandy (Brondello) said, ‘You’re going to shoot.’ I feel like I was able to gain a little bit of distance in range. I let the shot clock run out and I got some space.”

The Liberty erased a 15-point deficit – marking the third-biggest comeback in WNBA Finals history, with the biggest coming in Game 1 – and moved one win away from winning their first title. Game 4 is Friday evening in Minnesota, with a decisive fifth game Sunday in New York if necessary.

Stewart scored 22 of their 45 points in the second half.

“We won’t win this game without Stewie,” Ionescu said. “I can’t say anything. That shot is nice, but what (Stewart) was able to do for us tonight got us back in the game.”

Minnesota didn’t really get a chance at the buzzer.

“Great player made a good shot,” Minnesota guard Kayla McBride said. “I watched her for forty minutes.”

The Liberty have been to the finals five times before, including last season, and lost them all.

Trailing 73-69 and leading 2:26 into the fourth quarter, the Liberty scored eight straight points, including Jonquel Jones’ first five. Ionescu, who had a relatively quiet game, then hit another 3-pointer after a Lynx miss to make it 77-73 with 55.5 left.

Bridget Carleton got the Lynx within 77-75 with a layup 21 seconds later. On New York’s next possession, Ionescu had a three-pointer halfway to the basket before fouling out and Minnesota got the rebound. Napheesa Collier was then fouled with 16 seconds left and hit both free throws to set up the equalizer, making for a thrilling finish.

The Liberty led for just 2 minutes, 19 seconds, the second-shortest lead time in a Finals victory in WNBA history. In Game 2 of the 1999 Finals, the Liberty led the Comets for just 2:15 before winning on Teresa Weatherspoon’s game-winning buzzer-beater.

Collier finished with 22 points and McBride 19 for Minnesota. Collier now has 249 points in the 2024 playoffs, passing Diana Taurasi (245) in 2009 for the most in a single postseason in WNBA history.

The Lynx flipped the script on the first two games and built a double-digit lead in the first half. Minnesota, which led for just over three minutes in the first two games, led 60-50 with 2:28 left in the third quarter before the Liberty closed to 62-61 near the end of the period . Stewart scored the final five points, including a three-point play with 19 seconds left.

She then scored the first eight points for New York in the fourth quarter, tying the game at 69 with another three-point play with 6:18 remaining.

Carleton hit two free throws to break the tie 12 seconds later. Neither team would score again until Courtney Williams hit a baseline pullup with 2:26 to go, giving the Lynx a four-point lead.

With her game-winning 3, Ionescu passed Crystal Robinson (62) for the most career 3-points in the playoffs in Liberty history. She also brought her three-point total to 28 this postseason, tying her franchise record of 28 in last year’s playoffs. That ranks fifth most in a single postseason in WNBA playoff history.

ESPN Research and The Associated Press contributed to this report.