JEWELL LOYD

The WNBA once again had strong metrics as the league had its most-watched regular season in 21 years and its highest average attendance since 2018.

The New York Liberty and Las Vegas Aces are living up to the preseason WNBA hype and will meet for the first time with a championship on the line when they play for the Commissioner’s Cup title on Tuesday night.

Brittney Griner scored 18 points, including two dunks, in her return to the All-Star Game to lead Team Stewart to a 143-127 win over Team Wilson.

With thunderstorms blanketing the Northeast again, the Seattle Storm had to alter their travel plans to get from New York to Washington for their game against the Mystics on Tuesday.

Sue Bird’s career came to an end as Chelsea Gray scored 15 of her 31 points in the fourth quarter, and the Las Vegas Aces advanced to the WNBA Finals with a 97-92 win over the Seattle Storm in Game 4 of their semifinal series.

Jackie Young sent the game in overtime with a buzzer-beating basket and then Chelsea Gray and Kelsey Plum hit big shots in the extra session to help the Las Vegas Aces beat the Seattle Storm 110-98 to move within a victory of advancing to the WNBA Finals.

Jewell Loyd scored 26 points, including Seattle’s final six, and the Storm edged the Las Vegas Aces 76-73 to take a 1-0 lead in the WNBA semifinals.

Breanna Stewart had 21 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists, Sue Bird added season highs of 18 points and 10 assists, and the Seattle Storm beat the Washington Mystics 97-84 to sweep their opening-round series.

Courtney Vandersloot, Kahleah Copper and Emma Meesseman will get a chance to play before their home fans as the trio was selected as reserves for the WNBA All-Star Game on July 10 in Chicago.

Jonquel Jones is no stranger to winning Associated Press WNBA awards.

Breanna Stewart scored 15 of her 17 points in the first quarter and the Seattle Storm routed the Connecticut Sun 79-57 to win the inaugural WNBA Commissioner’s Cup.

Becky Hammon can’t wait for the time when it’s normal for women to interview for head coaching positions in the NBA and their gender isn’t the story.

Both the U.S. Olympic team and the WNBA All-Stars expect a competitive game in the league’s showcase.

With less than a week remaining before the WNBA begins its Olympic break, teams are jockeying for position in the standings knowing that it will be a sprint to the finish once play resumes in August following the Tokyo Games and a monthlong hiatus.

The WNBA is back and celebrating its silver anniversary.

Breanna Stewart and the Seattle Storm never really got a chance to defend their 2018 championship because of key injuries. “I don’t know if any of us are thinking that way,” Stewart said after the Storm completed a three-game sweep of the Las Vegas Aces on Tuesday night by setting a WNBA Finals record with a 33-point win. The 26-year-old won a second WNBA Finals MVP as a unanimous choice and was nearly unstoppable in the championship round. Bird, who turns 40 next week, has been a part of all four of the Storm championships during three decades. I just kind of start working out and see how I feel,” said Bird, who averaged 11 assists in the WNBA Finals.

Stewart scored 26 points and Seattle completed a sweep of the Las Vegas Aces with a 92-59 rout Tuesday night. It was the biggest margin of victory in WNBA Finals history. Seattle had pretty much the same core group that won the 2018 championship back for this year, led by Stewart, Bird and Jewell Loyd. Seattle has now won a record 11 games in a row in the WNBA Finals, dating to the team's first championship in 2004. She led the Dream to three WNBA Finals appearances but the team was swept in each one.

Las Vegas couldn't respond. A'ja Wilson had 20 points to lead Las Vegas while Angel McCoughtry and Emma Cannon added 17 each. The Aces led 65-64 with 3:22 left in the period before the Storm closed with a 11-3 burst. The Storm, who had 17 assists on their 18 baskets, built the lead to 13 before Las Vegas rallied to the six-point halftime deficit. ... Stewart had her fifth consecutive 20-point game in the WNBA Finals spanning back to the 2018 season.

“You impose on them it's a five-game series, even if you lose one game so what? “He trusts us and knows what we’re capable of.”The Aces feel that they have fixable problems. It was also the first finals for many of the Aces players, including Wilson and Jackie Young. Stewart had a career-high 37 points — one short of the WNBA Finals record. The biggest thing is to make them contested shots," Wilson said.

Seattle Storm forward Breanna Stewart (30) celebrates after the team defated the Las Vegas Aces during Game 1 of basketball's WNBA Finals Friday, Oct. 2, 2020, in Bradenton, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)BRADENTON, Fla. – The Seattle Storm's lead down to two with a quarter left, Breanna Stewart took over. The big-game player scored the first 11 points of the fourth quarter and finished with 37 to help the Storm beat the Las Vegas Aces 93-80 on Friday night in Game 1 of the WNBA Finals. She was a point short of the WNBA Finals record set by Angel McCoughtry. McCoughtry scored 20 points to lead Las Vegas, which was playing in the WNBA Finals for the first time since the franchise moved to the Nevada city three years ago. Eight players had reached 11 assists in a finals game before Bird's record performance.

According to NBA TV, Ionescu sprained her ankle and underwent X-rays. After the game, Liberty coach Walt Hopkins said Ionescu was still being evaluated. She helped the Ducks win the Pac-12 regular-season and tournament titles as a senior while averaging 17.5 points, 9.1 assists and 8.6 rebounds. She was named the conferences most outstanding player of the tournament and of the regular season. The 5-foot-11 guard was also named AP Player of the Year and won the Wooden Award, the Naismith Trophy and Wade Trophy.

1 pick in the WNBA draft was diagnosed with a Grade 3 left ankle sprain after getting hurt in the second quarter against Atlanta and did not return to action in the New York Libertys 84-78 loss to the Dream on Friday night. A Grade 3 sprain is the most severe and usually requires months to heal fully as it's a full tear of the ankle ligament. Ionescu was bringing the ball up court and rolled her left ankle when she got tangled up with Atlanta's Betnijah Laney with about five minutes left in the opening half. Ionescu played in only 2 1/2 games this season and might be hard-pressed to return with the WNBA playing a truncated season with only 19 games left over the next 6 weeks. New York is short-handed at guard already with Kia Nurse sidelined with a sprained left ankle she suffered in the team's opener.

Her dad, Kobe Bryant, called her Mambacita. She was going to carry on the Bryant name in basketball. They played against Bryant’s team, and over the years Loyd and Bryant forged an extremely special, extremely close bond. “He said how proud he was of me and how he wants me to continue to be a role model for kids growing up, for Gigi," Young said. ___More AP coverage of the life and death of Kobe Bryant: https://apnews.com/KobeBryant___More AP NBA: https://apnews.com/NBA and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports