MINNEAPOLIS — Multiple WNBA coaches have spent this week commenting on how this year's playoff field is the most competitive its ever been, with top-down parity unlike any prior season.

That New York "is an eight-seed is really cruel," Minnesota Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve said pregame. "But it's every matchup, right?

"Having a wide open championship ... we'll do our best to represent as a No. 1 seed."

The Lynx's 91-75 loss in Game 1 of the WNBA playoffs' best-of-three first round against the No. 8 seed Liberty proved those coaches' points quickly.

Behind a 34-point, 12-rebound outing from star Breanna Stewart, the Liberty wrestled away the Lynx's halftime lead, outscored the Lynx 51-31 in the second half, and 25-16 in the fourth quarter.

The loss forces a win-or-go home Game 2 for the Lynx in Brooklyn on Tuesday.

The Lynx headed into halftime up 44-40 behind the hot hand of Nia Brodie, who shot 4 for 5 from 3 for a team-high 16 points.

The Liberty were able to run off of the Lynx misses in the second half, when the home team shot 34.4% as New York scored seven of its 11 fast break points.

It didn't help that the Lynx frontcourt had to navigate foul trouble as Natasha Howard, Napheesa Collier and Brodie headed into halftime with three fouls a piece. Then, Howard and Collier each picked up their fourth in the first minutes of the second half. Stewart shot 10 for 12 at the line.

"We just had to figure out the flow of the game," Brodie said. "[It's] just really being aggressive and not allowing those calls to get to you, just making sure that we're continuing to do what we need to do, and just playing our team defense."

Reeve said the foul trouble was "not ideal," but criticism of the officiating stayed out of postgame talk.

"We don't want to make the officiating a part of this," Kayla McBride said. "We want to be able to be mentally tough, regardless of how the calls are going."

The frontcourt players "have a big task, a tall task, literally," McBride added, regarding defending Stewart (6-4), Jonquel Jones (6-6) and Han Xu (6-11). "The guards can do a better job of being up on the guards and not putting too much pressure on our bigs to be in those positions."

Coming out of the half, the Liberty quickly retook a third-quarter lead, with Leonie Fiebich (16 points, 4 for 5 from 3) hitting daggers from deep to keep New York ahead 65-60 heading into the fourth quarter.

The Lynx were able to force 21 Liberty turnovers, but still, New York's lead ballooned in the fourth off a 13 for 25 performance from beyond the arc.

The Lynx shot just 2 for 11 in the fourth quarter before emptying the bench with two minutes to play.

New York held the Lynx backcourt of Courtney Williams and Olivia Miles to 6-for-24 shooting, plus four turnovers for Miles running point.

Reeve said she also wanted Collier (12 points on 6-for-14 shooting) to be "more assertive."

"I think she's a little more stuck," Reeve said. "She's great when she moves. She's just like Stewie when she moves."

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