Minnesota Lynx vs New York Liberty player stats and box score for Oct. 20 | Game 5, WNBA Finals

The Minnesota Lynx vs New York Liberty series came to its fifth and final game. The series returned to Barclays Center on Sunday after they shared wins at Target Center, forcing a winner-takes-all duel to define the 2024 WNBA champions.

Despite a game-high 22 points from Napheesa Collier, the Minnesota Lynx couldn't beat the New York Liberty. Jonquel Jones scored 17 points to lead the Liberty, but it was Nyara Sabally's performance that gave the edge to the New Yorkers in the 67-62 win. After 28 years of existence, the New York Liberty won the WNBA title for the first time.

Minnesota won Game 4 82-80 in dramatic fashion to send the series back to New York to try to steal another game from the No. 1 seed in the regular season.

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Minnesota Lynx vs New York Liberty player stats and box score

Minnesota Lynx player stats and box score

Player	PTS	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO
Bridget Carleton	3	6	2	0	0	2
Alanna Smith	6	8	2	1	0	2
Napheesa Collier	22	7	2	1	2	1
Kayla McBride	21	5	5	4	0	2
Courtney Williams	2	4	3	0	1	5
Cecilia Zandalasini	0	1	0	0	0	1
Dorka Juhasz	0	1	1	0	0	0
Natisha Hiedeman	6	1	1	1	0	2

New York Liberty player stats and box score

Player	PTS	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO
Betnijah Laney-Hamilton	4	0	0	2	0	1
Breanna Stewart	13	15	4	1	3	2
Jonquel Jones	17	6	1	0	0	4
Leonie Fiebich	13	7	1	2	0	1
Sabrina Ionescu	5	7	8	2	0	2
Kayla Thornton	2	2	0	1	0	1
Nyara Sabally	13	7	1	0	1	2

Minnesota Lynx vs New York Liberty game recap

Game 5 of the Minnesota Lynx vs New York Liberty started with the visitors playing aggressively, passing the ball, and getting defensive stops. At the same time, the Liberty players looked nervous in the first part of the first quarter.

Napheesa Collier led the way in the first quarter with eight points, with Alanna Smith adding five. Jonquel Jones responded with four points and three players scored two points each.

The Lynx kept pushing on defense and taking every opportunity the Liberty gave them. Napheesa Collier finished the first half with 14 points, followed by nine units from Kayla McBride. For the Liberty, Breanna Stewart only scored five points while Sabrina Ionescu went scoreless after shooting 0-of-8 from the field, including 0-of-3 from beyond the arc.

The Liberty started the third quarter on a string note, scoring four points within the first minute and a half, forcing Cheryl Reeve to call a timeout. The Liberty took over in this period, winning the third quarter 20-10 to enter the fourth quarter up 47-44. The fourth quarter was a low-scoring period where the stars showed up to try to lead their teams to the promised land.

When the game entered crunch time, Sabrina Ionescu started making shots and Napheesa Collier went on a six-point run to give her team the 60-58 lead with less than a minute on the clock. After Breanna Stewart made two clutch free throws, Kayla McBride missed a game-winning three and sent the game to overtime.

The Liberty scored seven points in overtime to beat the Lynx. Breanna Stewart bounced back from her mistakes in the fourth quarter, making two free throws to secure the 67-62 win and the first-ever WNBA championship in the New York Liberty history.