With the return of Stewart, the Liberty look to climb in the standings

For most of this season, the New York Liberty held one of the top two spots in the WNBA standings, battling the Minnesota Lynx, the team they defeated in last year’s finals.

- By DERREL JOHNSON

But the past month has been turbulent for the Liberty. They were 17-6 on July 25 yet enter tonight's home game at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn against the Washington Mystics 23-15, having gone 8-9 over their last 15 games and falling to fifth in the standings. When the league's schedule tipped off yesterday (Wednesday), the Liberty trailed the first place Lynx (30-7), Atlanta Dream (24-13), Las Vegas Aces (25-14) and Phoenix Mercury (23-14).

Injuries have been a factor in the Liberty's setback. Now, with the return of star forward Breanna Stewart on Monday as New York hosted the Connecticut Sun at Barclays, they should once again start to resemble the squad that began this season 9-0 — the best start in franchise history.