PHOENIX — Breanna Stewart scored 21 points, Courtney VanderSloot added 16 and the New York Liberty used a 10-0 fourth-quarter run to pull away from the Phoenix Mercury 84-70 on Monday night.
Sabrina Ionescu scored five points and Liberty extended its lead to 17 points, 64-57, midway through the fourth quarter, led by a Stewart free-throw turnaround jump shot. Leonie Fiebic added a 3-pointer for the game's only points.
Jonquel Jones scored 15 points for Liberty (27-5), which made 12 3-pointers and outscored Phoenix on free throws 14-3. Ionescu finished with 13 points.
Brittney Griner led the Mercury (16-15) with 22 points, but Griner caused seven of the team's 20 turnovers. Natasha Cloud added 18 points, Kalia Copper had 14 and Diana Taurasi had 10.
Turnovers cost Phoenix 28 points and the bench was outscored 15-4.
New York made 12 of 29 3-point attempts while Phoenix was 5 of 22.
Taurasi made a 3-pointer in the final seconds of the game to bring the Mercury to within 38-38 at the end of the first half.
Liberty, bouncing back from a loss to the Sun on Saturday, led by as many as nine points but was down 12-for-20 inside and Phoenix scored 15 points on the fast break.
Griner reached 800 blocks in his career with the Mercuries, while Cloud reached 200 assists in a season, passing Taurasi as the franchise's single-season record.
Taurasi also moved into fourth place on the WBA all-time assists list, passing Lindsay Whalen (2,348).
