Breanna Stewart Stats Tonight: Reigning MVP dominates Fever with All-Around performance (May 16)

Breanna Stewart and the New York Liberty invaded Gainbridge Fieldhouse to ruin Caitlin Clark’s WNBA home debut with the Indiana Fever. A sellout crowd of over 17,000 mostly came out to see the No. 1 pick of this year’s draft against the star-studded Liberty. It didn’t take long for the home fans to realize the gap between last year’s finalists and the group led by Clark and Aliyah Boston.

Stewart reminded everyone that the former Iowa superstar might be the new darling of the crowd, but she's the reigning MVP. In the opening play, she promptly scored on a smooth jumper and followed up with an assist to Sabrina Ionescu for a 3-pointer. The two-time WNBA champ had 10 points with two assists in the first 10 minutes.

Brenna Stewart didn’t start the second frame after the Liberty had grabbed a 25-16 advantage. Indiana tried to make a run with her on the bench but Stewart came in midway through the period to restore order.

She promptly had an and-1 to snap whatever momentum the Fever had. Stewart added a layup, a 13-footer and two free throws late in the second quarter to push New York’s lead to 48-31 by halftime.

Here's Breanna Stewart’s box score on Thursday versus the Fever:

Player	PTS	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	FG	3-PT FG	FT	+/-
Breanna Stewart	31	10	4	3	2	0	12-21	1-3	6-6	+43

Unlike Stewart, the crowd favorite had another bad first half for the second straight game.

Caitlin Clark was again plagued with foul trouble that forced her rhythm out of the window. The rookie point guard had nine points but took eight shots to get that tally. Clark also went 1-for-7 from deep as the Liberty chased her around to inefficiency.

Indiana’s home arena was flooded with Clark jerseys, but it was Breanna Stewart who stood tall above everyone else. Stewart, the No. 1 pick in 2016 with the Seattle Storm likely gave the Fever and Clark a lesson or two on Thursday.

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Breanna Stewart and the Liberty will look to return to the WNBA Finals

If the Indiana Fever hope to make a deep playoff run, they will likely run into Breanna Stewart at some point.

If healthy, the New York Liberty could return to the WNBA Finals and hope to eventually get over the hump. They might have to face the Las Vegas Aces again to win the championship.

Stewart, Sabrina Ionescu, Jonquel Jones, Courtney Vandersloot and Betnijah Laney-Hamilton, New York’s first five, are back for another tour of duty. Nyara Sabally, Kayla Thornton, Ivana Dojkic and Leonie Fiebich are part of a supporting cast that can give any team a run for its money.

Last year, they were quite close to forcing a winner-take-all showdown against the Aces.

Breanna Stewart and her teammates, though, suffered a heartbreaking 70-69 loss and watched A’ja Wilson and Co. celebrate at Barclays Center, their home floor. The defeat and the way they lost it surely left a bitter taste in New York’s collective mouth.

Stewart and the Liberty will be raring to get back to the championship. They just showed Caitlin Clark and the Fever what await sthem every time they face off this season.

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