Tonight’s WNBA winners and losers: Brianna Stewart launches MVP campaign in big Liberty win

The 2026 WNBA season is underway. The New York Liberty kicked off their championship quest in style with a 31-point victory over the Connecticut Sun, while the Washington Mystics cruised past the Toronto Tempo in the first game of the expansion team. In the finals of the evening, the Golden State Valkyries won the second half against the Seattle Storm.

Opening weekend continues Saturday with four more games, including the highly anticipated matchup between the Indiana Fever and the Dallas Wings, which will feature the final four No. 1 picks. 1: Aliyah Boston (2023), Caitlin Clark (2024), Paige Buckers (2025) and Azzi Fudd (2026).

Final score, schedule:

• Liberty 106, Sun 75 (Box Score)
• Mystics 68, Tempo 65 (Box Score)
• Storm 91, Valkyries 79 (Box score)
• Dallas Wings at Indiana Fever – Saturday, 1pm ET (ABC)
• Phoenix Mercury at Las Vegas Aces — Saturday, 3:30 pm ET (ABC)
• Atlanta Dream at Minnesota Lynx — Saturday, 8pm ET (League Pass)
• Chicago Sky at Portland Fire — Saturday, 9pm ET (NBA TV)
• Seattle Storm at Connecticut Sun – Sunday, 1pm ET (League Pass)
• New York Liberty at Washington Mystics — Sunday, 3pm ET (League Pass)
• Las Vegas Aces at Los Angeles Sparks — Sunday, 6pm ET (USA)
• Phoenix Mercury at Golden State Valkyries — Sunday, 8:30 pm ET (League Pass)

Now that the season is off and running, let’s take a look at some of the winners and losers from opening night:

Winner: Breanna Stewart

Stewart’s 2025 year was frustrating. He had meniscus surgery in his right knee before the season, suffered a right knee sprain late in the season that kept him out for a month and sprained the MCL in his left knee during Game 1 of the Liberty’s first-round series with the Phoenix Mercury. Not only did the Liberty defend its title in the first round, but Stewart matched her few points from her rookie season and failed to make the All-WNBA team for the first time since 2019.

Entering 2026, Stewart was fully healthy and ready to return to MVP status under new coach Chris DeMarco. It didn’t take him long. She scored for the Liberty for the first time this season and finished with 31 points, 10 rebounds, one steal and three blocks in a dominant two-way game to lead New York to a 31-point victory despite the absence of Sabrina Ionescu and Satou Sabally.

Including the playoffs, Stewart had just two 30-point games last season.

Missing: Connecticut’s defense without Leïla Lacan

The Suns are still in the early stages of rebuilding, so it’s no surprise they lost to the Liberty — favorites to win the title — on opening night, especially without star guard Leïla Lacan, who is overseas. But giving up 106 points was very disappointing.

Liberty shot the ball well early, but it’s not like they made a million 3s (they were 10 of 31). Instead, the Suns were constantly beaten in transition, had no response around the basket and were fouled relentlessly. Liberty scored 19 fastbreak points, 42 points in the paint and went 26 of 31 from the free throw line.

Regardless of the opponent, Connecticut’s defense was very sloppy. They need to clean things up, or their final season in Uncasville before moving to Houston will be much longer than expected. Honestly, you can make Lacan the winner in this game. If this is how Solezwe’s defense looks without him, he should get player of the year votes for this game alone.

Winner: Canada

The Coca-Cola Coliseum was rocking Friday night, and while the outcome didn’t go the Toronto Tempo’s way, the expansion team’s first game was a historic moment years in the making. Tempo, one of two expansion teams that joined the league this season, is the first WNBA team in Canada and the first outside the United States.

After Marina Mabrey hit a 3-pointer midway through the fourth quarter to briefly give Tempo the lead, the decibel level rose to 105.4 — above the level where sustained exposure can result in hearing loss, per Yale University.

Like any expansion team, Tempo may struggle to win games this season, but Friday night’s first game proved they will compete and have plenty of support behind them.

Winner: Sonia Citron

Going into his rookie season, the general consensus was that Citron, the No. 3, it had a high floor but a low ceiling. He quickly proved that wrong with an All-Star campaign that saw him lead the league in 3-point percentage (44.2%) and finish as runner-up to Paige Bueckers for Rookie of the Year.

He continued where he left off on Friday when the Mystics’ season-opening win over Tempo. Citron scored a team-high 26 points — tied for the third-highest of his career — on 9 of 12 from the field and 3 of 6 from 3-point range, and two steals and two blocks. The rest of the Mystics combined for 42 points on 16-of-52 shooting and 2-of-18 from behind the arc.

Citron also went up. His layup midway through the final frame put the Mystics back in front for good after he blew a nine-point lead, then followed it up with one. If Friday was any indication, the Mystics will rely heavily on Citron this season, and he has the ability to carry their offense.

Loser: Jade Melbourne’s front tooth

Wow.

Winner: Valkyries’ three-point shooting

In their first season in 2025, the Valkyries set a new WNBA record with 29.9 3-pointers attempted per game. They made just 32.5% of them, however, which ranked 11th in the league. Their inability to shoot was a big reason why they finished 10th in the league in offensive rating (101.5).

After an exciting season in which they made several additions, there were also real questions about the Valkyries’ offense and whether they had enough shooting — especially after the team announced that five-year-old Iliana Rupert was pregnant. Indeed they did so on Friday. Janelle Salaün went 5 of 10 from 3-point range to set a career high, seven different players hit three pointers and shot 15 of 37 (40.5%) as a team in the double-digit win over the Storm.

The Valkyries made 15-plus 3s just twice last season, and shot 40% or better eight times. One game doesn’t make a season, but this has been an encouraging start for the Valkyries, who are hoping to get back to the playoffs and will need to shoot better to do so.