MINNEAPOLIS – Sabrina Ionescu watched Breanna Stewart carry the New York Liberty the entire game until it was time to win.

Then the ball was hers.

“In the timeout, (coach) Sandy (Brondello) said, 'You're going to take the shot,'” Ionescu said.

The star guard nailed a 3-pointer from 28 feet with one second left that gave the Liberty an 80-77 victory over the Minnesota Lynx on Wednesday night and one win away from an elusive first WNBA title removed.

New York leads the Finals 2-1 – its first time in the championship round – and can win the series Friday night in Minnesota.

“We know we're just one game away from winning the championship and I think they're going to give us their best,” said Stewart, who won two titles with Seattle. “They’ll give it everything they’ve got, and guess what, so will we. The turnaround is happening quickly, but we will remain ready.”

Ionescu said she had to watch the replay of her shot after the game to see exactly what happened.

“I couldn’t even remember it properly. I had to watch the video real quick to see how far along I was,” she said. “I feel like I was able to get a little bit of distance and hit a really good shot.”

With the game tied 77-77, Ionescu had the ball and dribbled around before taking a few steps behind the arc and scoring from 28 feet to break the tie.

“It's something very special. There was never any doubt. “Obviously Stewie got us back in there, pushed us in there, but I thought it was the right time, this is Sabrina,” Brondello said. “She just made a big splash. She’s a great shooter and she just needed some distance.”

With her game-winning 3-pointers, Ionescu passed Crystal Robinson (62) for the most 3-pointers of her playoff career in Liberty history. She also increased her 3-point total to 28 this postseason, tying her franchise record of 28 from last year's playoffs. That's the fifth-most goals in a single postseason in WNBA playoff history.

Stewart scored 22 of the team's 45 points in the second half and finished the game with 30 points, 11 rebounds and four blocked shots.

“We won’t win this game without Stewie,” Ionescu said. “I can’t say anything about that. The shot is nice, but what she was able to do for us tonight got us back in the game.”

Minnesota had no real chance to get to the buzzer.

“A great player made a good shot,” Minnesota guard Kayla McBride said. “I guarded her for 40 minutes.”

The Liberty erased a 15-point deficit – marking the third-largest comeback in WNBA Finals history, with the largest coming in Game 1 – to remain one win away from their first title.

They led by just 2 minutes and 19 seconds, the second-shortest amount of time in a Finals victory in WNBA history. In Game 2 of the 1999 Finals, the Liberty led the Comets for just 2:15 before winning on Teresa Weatherspoon's game-winning buzzer-beater.

“There's a lot of things we didn't do right tonight and we kind of have a quick memory,” Stewart said. “I think we're happy we got this win, but the job isn't done yet.”

The Liberty have been to the finals five times, including last season, and lost each time.

Trailing 73-69 with 2:26 remaining in the fourth quarter, the Liberty scored eight straight points, including the first five from Jonquel Jones. Ionescu, who had a relatively quiet game, hit another three-pointer after a Lynx miss to increase the lead to 77-73 with 55.5 minutes left.

Bridget Carleton got the Lynx within 77-75 with a layup 21 seconds later. On New York's next possession, Ionescu had a 3-point shot in the middle of the basket before diving out and Minnesota got the rebound.

Napheesa Collier was then fouled with 16 seconds left and shot both free throws to equalize and set up the exciting conclusion.

Collier finished with 22 points and McBride had 19 for Minnesota. Collier now has 249 points in the 2024 playoffs, passing Diana Taurasi (245) in 2009 for the most points in a single postseason in WNBA history.

“Our defense gave us a chance to win the game and our offense will help our defense,” Minnesota coach Cheryl Reeve said. “If you told me that if we had the number of stops that we made and that we played it out and that we didn't score 80 points, that would be a surprise to me.”

The Lynx flipped the script from the first two games and built a double-digit lead in the first half. Minnesota, which led for just over three minutes in the first two contests, was ahead 60-50 with 2:28 left in the third quarter before the Liberty closed the score to 62-61 at the end of the quarter. Stewart scored the final five points, including a three-point play with 19 seconds left.

She then scored New York's first eight points of the fourth quarter and tied the game with another three-point play at 6:18.

Twelve seconds later, Carleton tied the game with two free throws. Neither team would score again until Courtney Williams hit a baseline pullup with 2:26 left, giving the Lynx a four-point lead.

ESPN Research and The Associated Press contributed to this report.