NEW YORK (AP) — As the confetti fell and Frank Sinatra’s “New York, New York” blared across the arena, the New York Liberty celebrated the end of a long odyssey.

The team that always fell short, starting from their days at Madison Square Garden, through detours to Radio City Music Hall and Westchester County Center, finally found their way to the top.

Indeed, start spreading the news: There is finally a professional basketball champion in New York again after a 67-62 overtime win over Minnesota in Game 5 of the WNBA Finals on Sunday night.

“I’ve been manifesting this moment for a while. There’s no feeling like it,” said Breanna Stewart. “Thanks to Minnesota, they gave us a tough series. The fans have been great everywhere we’ve been. To bring a championship to New York for the first time in franchise history, it’s an incredible feeling. I can’t wait to continue celebrating it with the city. It’s going to be a blast.”

Jonquel Jones scored 17 points to lead New York, one of the league’s original franchises. The Liberty have reached the WNBA Finals five times before and lost them all. including last season. This time they were not turned away, even though it took an extra five minutes.

While stars Stewart and Sabrina Ionescu struggled in attack, other players stepped up. Leonie Fiebich started OT with a 3-pointer, then Nyara Sabally, who finished with 13 points, had a steal for a layup to make it 65-60 and send the sold-out crowd into a frenzy.

“Whoever scores first in overtime usually wins,” Liberty coach Sandy Brondello said.

Minnesota didn’t score in OT until Kayla McBride hit two free throws with 1:51 left. The Lynx missed all six of their field goal attempts in overtime. After Ionescu missed a shot with 21 seconds left, her 18th miss on 19 shot attempts, the Lynx had one last chance, but Bridget Carleton missed a 3-pointer with 16 seconds left.

Stewart, who missed a free throw with 0.8 seconds left at the end of regulation in game 1, hit two free throws with 10.1 seconds left in overtime to seal the victory.

As the final seconds ticked off the clock, the players embraced and the streamers fell from the rafters at Barclays Center. Stewart and Jones hugged. The two free agent signees who won an award two years ago helped this team win its first title.

New York trailed by two in regulation when Stewart fouled with 5.2 seconds left. After a lengthy video review, Stewart calmly hit two free throws to tie the game at 60. Minnesota had challenged the foul call and after the game coach Cheryl Reeve still wonderedsaying her team’s title was stolen.

McBride, who finished with 21 points, had an open look at a 3, but it fell off the rim and the game went to OT.

Many of the former Liberty greats were in the crowd, including Teresa Weatherspoon, who batted a half-court in the 1999 WNBA Finals and forced a decisive Game 3 that year. That was the last time New York had a chance to play in a championship-deciding game until this year.

Jones, who was the only Liberty player to previously appear in a Game 5 when she was with Connecticut in 2019, earned MVP honors.

“I could never have dreamed of this. You know how many times I’ve been rejected. It was postponed. I’m so happy to do it here,” she said.

Napheesa Collier scored 22 points to lead Minnesota before fouling out with 13 seconds left in OT.

The Lynx attempted to win a record fifth WNBA title, breaking ties with the Seattle Storm and Houston Comets. Minnesota won four titles between 2011 and 2017 behind the core group of Lindsay Whalen, Seimone Augustus, Rebekkah Brunson, Sylvia Fowles and Maya Moore. That was the team’s last appearance in the WNBA Finals until this year.

“Congratulations to the Liberty on their first championship,” Reeve said. “It lasted 28 years, congratulations to them. We were so close to our fifth, but it just didn’t happen.”

This marks the first time since 2019 that the WNBA Finals have gone the distance. Since the league switched to a best-of-five format in 2005, seven other series have gone to a Game 5 and the home team had won five of those previous games, including in 2019.

This series was a fitting end to a record season for the league. All five games came down to the last few possessions and included two overtime games and one last second shotwhich has led to record ratings.

The first three games each averaged over a million viewers, with the audience growing for each match. They too had a large crowd present.

Liberty fan Spike Lee stood courtside for over an hour before speaking to the media while wearing his Ionescu jersey. When Ionescu finished pregame warmups, the two had a brief conversation and hugged. Lee was part of a sellout crowd of 18,090 that helped this series set both the overall attendance record for a WNBA Finals and the average attendance record.

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AP WNBA: https://apnews.com/hub/wnba-basketball