Here's who won the 2024 WNBA Finals – NBC 7 San Diego

It was a moment in which 28 years had passed.

The New York Liberty outlasted the Minnesota Lynx in Game 5 of the 2024 WNBA Finals to secure the franchise's first-ever title. Jonquel Jones took home the Finals MVP award.

Minnesota, which forced Game 5 after a 2-1 series lead, led by double digits early before New York came back thanks to a third-quarter surge.

But the game went into overtime when Breanna Stewart made up for missed free throws. Minnesota started the five-minute period slowly as Courtney Williams failed to convert several times, and New York built a 7-2 lead and won 67-62.

It was the first winner-take-all overtime game in WNBA Finals history.

As always, Minnesota was anchored by Defensive Player of the Year Napheesa Collier. Collier scored 22 points on 11 of 23 shooting and scored key baskets leading up to overtime. She added seven rebounds, two blocks, two assists and a steal to her statistics, but conspicuously did not attempt a single free throw.

Kayla McBride was the only other Lynx player to stand out, scoring 21 points to help Collier at a 7-of-13 clip, with 1 of 6 of those coming from deep. She added five rebounds, five assists and four steals, but no other Minnesota player scored more than six points.

The shootout didn't go any better for the Liberty as their two superstars had to battle throughout. Stewart went just 4 of 15 from the field, missed all three 3-pointers and made 5 of 8 free throws, with two misses in the final minutes almost proving costly.

The two-time Finals MVP finished with 13 points, 15 rebounds, four assists, three blocks and a steal and made good contributions everywhere else to secure her third WNBA title. Her last two came with the Seattle Storm in 2018 and 2020.

Sabrina Ionescu suffered one of the worst shooting performances in finals history as she shot a shocking 1-for-19 from downtown. She had just five points, but made up for it with eight assists, seven rebounds, two steals and a block.

Jones added 17 points and made all seven foul attempts while Nyara Sabally was the unsung hero. Sabally came off the bench to score 13 points on 5-of-7 shooting, along with seven rebounds, a steal and a block, with Liberty's supporting cast proving more reliable and consistent than Minnesota's.

Before the result, New York had never won the WNBA title and was 0-5 the entire time. It reached the 2023 final but lost in four games to Las Vegas and also reached the stage in 1997, 1999, 2000 and 2002.

On the other hand, the Lynx have won four WNBA titles and were just minutes away from a fifth. Minnesota first won the title in 2011 and most recently in 2017. The other two wins came in 2013 and 2015, a coincidence span of odd-numbered years.

From historic individual performances to skyrocketing viewership and viewership, here are the jaw-dropping numbers you need to know from the 2024 WNBA regular season.