The New York Liberty secured another win at Barclays Center against the Seattle Storm on August 5, but Breanna Stewart made one thing abundantly clear about how the team was fortunate not to be on the wrong side of young star Dominique Malonga’s explosive performance.
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The Seattle star produced one of the best offensive games of her young career, repeatedly punishing New York’s interior defense and nearly leading the Storm to a win that would have snapped a brutal losing streak. Though the Liberty held on and won 92-86, Stewart admitted that Malonga was difficult to contain.
“Defensively, we need to be better. But she’s a tough guard,” she said after the game, as posted to X by beat reporter @MylesEhrlich. “Dom, in her second year, she’s just getting more comfortable with her spots. Obviously, an awareness of how long she is and her speed. But you guys saw tonight, when she knocks down those threes, it really opens up all three levels of scoring.”
Malonga logged 31 points on a stellar 14-for-20 shooting from the floor, adding two threes, 10 rebounds, three assists and two steals. She even outdid Stewart, who finished the game with 28 points on 12-of-22 shooting, eight rebounds, and two assists. According to ESPN, the performance made Malonga the youngest player in WNBA history to score 30 or more points while shooting 70% from the field, a distinct milestone from the one she’d already set weeks earlier.
That earlier record came on June 22, when Malonga dropped a career-high 37 points on Dallas, shooting 58.3% from the field with 12 rebounds, in a 112-110 overtime loss. That performance made her the youngest player in WNBA history to score 30 or more points in a single game, the first player to do it before turning 21, and it came at the tail end of an 11-game losing streak, not long after she’d returned from missing eight games with a concussion.
What stood out to Stewart on August 5 wasn’t just the scoring output, but how differently Malonga looked compared to their meeting just two days earlier.
“I thought what was interesting was the way she adjusted from last game to this one,” Stewart added. “I don’t think she had a bad game last game, but like things weren’t as easy for her, and she got easier looks today.”
In that August 3 meeting, also a Liberty win, Malonga scored 17 points, with Flau’jae Johnson leading Seattle’s scoring that night with 25. Two nights later, she made sure New York wouldn’t have it nearly as easy.
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Unfortunately for Dominique Malonga, New York’s Big 3 stopped the Storm’s best attempt to make a comeback, but it wasn’t easy.
In a pattern that has become familiar, the Liberty started strong, building a lead, but started faltering as the game went on.
In a pattern that’s become familiar, the Liberty started strong before letting the lead slip. New York opened the game with a 12-0 run, building a 27-16 first-quarter lead, only to watch Seattle chip away until the margin was down to four points at halftime.
Seattle tied the game at 50 early in the third quarter before Sabrina Ionescu sparked a response, scoring eight points during a 12-2 Liberty run that pushed New York back in front, 69-65, heading into the fourth.
Beyond Stewart’s 28 points, New York also got a near triple-double from Jonquel Jones, who finished with 14 points, 15 rebounds and seven assists. Still, the night belonged to Malonga, who was the engine behind Seattle’s push to flip the result.
New York’s composure down the stretch made the difference, and the Liberty converted enough down the stretch to secure the 92-86 win. The result completed a two-game sweep of Seattle and extended New York’s recent surge to six wins in its last seven games, improving to 19-13.
Seattle will look to snap its 10-game skid Saturday, August 8, on the road against Portland. New York gets a much stiffer test the following day, hosting A’ja Wilson and the Las Vegas Aces on Sunday, August 9, with Malonga’s performance serving as a fresh reminder that the Liberty’s defense still has real work to do before then.