Geoff Burke-Imagn Images
May 19, 2023; Washington, District of Columbia, USA; New York Liberty forward Breanna Stewart (30) argues with referee Ryan Sassano (L) after being called for a foul against the Washington Mystics in the third quarter at Entertainment & Sports Arena.
Two-time WNBA MVP Breanna Stewart isn’t explicitly blaming the refs for the New York Liberty‘s 101-98 overtime loss to the Atlanta Dream in Game 2 of the playoff semifinals. However, she’d be well within her rights to do so.
After Angel Reese hit a free throw with 4.3 seconds remaining on the clock to put Atlanta ahead 101-98, video shows Stewart asking one of the referees whether New York has a reset timeout remaining in order to advance the ball up the court.
The same video appears to show that referee Kevin Fahy told both Stewart and Liberty head coach Chris DeMarco that they did not have a timeout remaining, ultimately leading to halfcourt heave that fell short and lifted Atlanta to victory.
This is when the official told Stewie and Chris they had no timeouts remaining. (This is not why we lost the game btw)
DeMarco gestures wanting to use the reset, that official Fahey, gives him a hand motion that tells him you have none remaining
Don’t ever lie on Stewie. https://t.co/l64H5MomVt
— Mily (@DayDreamThis) October 8, 2026
However, there’s just one very big issue here.
WNBA Refs Were Incorrect About The New York Liberty’s Timeout Situation
As it turns out, the Liberty did have a reset timeout remaining, which would have allowed it to take the ball in from the front court. Does that guarantee that they would have tied the game? Of course not.
But New York would have had a far better look a game-tying 3-pointer than the one it wound up taking.
“I asked, ‘Do we have a reset timeout?’ So he looked to (fellow referee) Fatou (Cissoko-Stephns), and she said no. So then he told me no,” Stewart said after the game.
The Pool Report following the New York Liberty @ Atlanta Dream game – October 7, 2026 https://t.co/CzYtMa00fx
— WNBA Communications (@WNBAComms) October 8, 2026
In the postgame pool report, Cissoko-Stephens told reporters that nobody informed Stewart or DeMarco that the team didn’t have any timeouts remaining.
However, the video makes it extremely clear that at least one of the officials did so.
“This is not blaming the refs, but when I ask both refs if we have a reset timeout at the end, and they tell us no… it’s pretty frustrating,” Stewart said.
Credit to her for not blaming the refs. However, it seems like she’d have been pretty justified had she chosen to do so.