Breanna Stewart and Sabrina Ionescu were not going to be shut down.

After trailing for most of the night and falling into a 15-point hole at one point, Stewart erupted in the second half before Ionescu drilled a game-winner to leave the Target Center absolutely stunned. The Liberty, after Ionescu sank a shot from just inside the Lynx halfcourt logo with a little more than a second left on the clock, snuck out with an 80-77 win in Game 3 of the WNBA Finals on Wednesday night.

That gave the Liberty a 2-1 series lead, and now they are a single win away from what would be their first league championship.

The Liberty led for about two total minutes in Game 3 on Wednesday night, and they looked well out of it almost from the jump. The Lynx opened the game on a 21-7 tear and forced seven turnovers during that span before they built up a 15-point lead at its peak.

But finally, Stewart took off in the second half. She powered a quick 8-0 run to end the third quarter and cut the Lynx’s deficit down to just a single point with a huge and-1 in the final seconds. She scored 14 points in the third quarter.

Stewart scored the first eight points of the fourth quarter for the Liberty, too, and quickly tied the game on another and-1. That pushed her to 30 points, which marked her third 30-point night in a WNBA Finals game and matched Angel McCoughtry for the most in league history.

But, after a Stewart free throw with just more than six minutes left in the game, the Liberty largely shut down. Nobody else scored for New York over the next three minutes, which allowed the Lynx to stay a step ahead. Eventually, Jonquel Jones hit a 3-pointer and then followed it up with a layup at the 90-second mark, which gave the Liberty their first lead since the opening sequence.

That, along with a 3-pointer from Ionescu just 30 seconds later, gave the Liberty a four-point lead. That was just Ionescu's second made 3-pointer of the night.

The Lynx tied the game one last time, thanks to a Bridget Carleton layup and then a pair of free throws from Napheesa Collier — who had a historic night of her own. That, though, set up the game-winning shot from Ionescu and eventually the three-point win for the Liberty.

Stewart finished with 30 points and 11 rebounds while shooting 9-of-20 from the field. Ionescu had 13 points, six assists and five rebounds. She shot 3-of-8 from behind the arc.

Collier led the Lynx with 22 points and nine rebounds. She surpassed Diana Taurasi's single-season playoff points record, too, with 249 total points. Taurasi dropped 245 points during the 2009 playoffs. Kayla McBride added 19 points while making five 3-pointers, and Carleton finished with 14 points.

Game 4 of the series is scheduled for Friday night in Minneapolis. Though they were knocked out of the Finals last season by the Las Vegas Aces, the Liberty now have a golden opportunity to take home the WNBA title for the first time.