WNBA Opening Night: Breanna Stewart Dominates for Liberty; Sonia Citron and Canada Impress

WNBA opening night winners and losers: Breanna Stewart launches MVP campaign in dominant New York Liberty win

Elsewhere, Sonia Citron made a statement for the Mystics and Canada showed out

By Jack Maloney

May 8, 2026 at 11:11 pm ET • 4 min read

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The 2026 WNBA season is underway. The New York Liberty got their quest for a championship started in style with a 31-point win over the Connecticut Sun , while the Washington Mystics outlasted the Toronto Tempo in the expansion team's first game. Still to come, the Seattle Storm are hosting the Golden State Valkyries .

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

Final scores, schedule:

- Liberty 106, Sun 75 ( Box score ) - Mystics 68, Tempo 65 ( Box score ) - Seattle Storm at Golden State Valkyries, 10 p.m. ET - Dallas Wings at Indiana Fever -- Saturday, 1 p.m. ET (ABC) - Phoenix Mercury at Las Vegas Aces -- Saturday, 3:30 p.m. ET (ABC) - Atlanta Dream at Minnesota Lynx -- Saturday, 8 p.m. ET (League Pass) - Chicago Sky at Portland Fire -- Saturday, 9 p.m. ET ( NBA TV) - Seattle Storm at Connecticut Sun -- Sunday, 1 p.m. ET (League Pass) - New York Liberty at Washington Mystics -- Sunday, 3 p.m. ET (League Pass) - Las Vegas Aces at Los Angeles Sparks -- Sunday, 6 p.m. ET (USA) - Phoenix Mercury at Golden State Valkyries -- Sunday, 8:30 p.m. 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 was frustrating. She underwent meniscus surgery on her right knee prior to the season, suffered a right knee bone bruise late in the season that kept her out for a month and then sprained the MCL in her left knee during Game 1 of the Liberty's first-round playoff series with the Phoenix Mercury. Not only did the Liberty's title defense end in the first round, but Stewart averaged her fewest points since her rookie season and failed to make an All-WNBA team for the first time since 2019.

Entering 2026, Stewart was fully healthy and ready to get back to an MVP level under new coach Chris DeMarco. It didn't take her long. She scored on the Liberty's first possession of the season and finished with 31 points, 10 rebounds, one steal and three blocks in a dominant two-way performance to lead New York to a 31-point win despite Sabrina Ionescu and Satou Sabally's absence.

Including the playoffs, Stewart only had two 30-point games all of last season.

> It's the Stewie Show in Brooklyn tonight 🫢 Breanna Stewart floats it over the defense for the TUFF AND-1! CON-NYL | ION | WNBA Tip-Off 2026 | @CarMax pic.twitter.com/p9ehotCmyL — WNBA (@WNBA) May 9, 2026

Loser: Connecticut's defense without Leïla Lacan

The Sun are still in the early stages of their rebuild, so it's no surprise that they lost to the Liberty -- the favorite to win the title -- on opening night, especially without star guard Leïla Lacan, who is still overseas. But to give up 106 points was extremely discouraging.

The Liberty shot the ball well early, but it's not as if they made a million 3s (they were 10 of 31). Rather, the Sun were consistently getting beat in transition, had no answer around the basket and fouled relentlessly. The 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 far too sloppy. They need to clean things up, or their final season in Uncasville before relocating to Houston is going to be even longer than expected. Honestly, you could make Lacan a winner from this game. If this is what the Sun's defense looks like without her, she should earn Defensive Player of the Year votes from this game alone.

Winner: Canada

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

After Marina Mabrey hit a 3-pointer in the middle of the fourth quarter to briefly give the Tempo the lead, the decibel level got up to 105.4 -- well above the level at which sustained exposure may result in hearing loss, per Yale University.

> IT’S ROWDY IN HERE AFTER THAT MARINA THREE!!! pic.twitter.com/9DSmaJF0GX — Toronto Tempo (@TempoBasketball) May 9, 2026

Like any expansion team, the Tempo may struggle to win games this season, but Friday night's opener proved that they're going to compete and will have plenty of support behind them.

Winner: Sonia Citron

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

She picked up right where she left off on Friday during the Mystics' season-opening win over the Tempo. Citron scored a team-high 26 points -- tied for the third-highest scoring performance of her career -- on 9 of 12 from the field and 3 of 6 from 3-point range, and chipped in two steals and two blocks. Everyone else on the Mystics combined for 42 points on 16 of 52 shooting and 2 of 18 from behind the arc.

> Back-and-forth we go 👐 Sonia Citron's bucket puts the @WashMystics up 1 (58-57) with 3:30 to go! Tune into ION for the last minutes of the game! WAS-TOR | WNBA Tip-Off 2026 | @CarMax pic.twitter.com/zrEZPWbsvt — WNBA (@WNBA) May 9, 2026

Citron came up clutch, too. Her layup in the middle of the final frame put the Mystics back in front for good after they had blown a nine-point lead, and she followed that up with an and-one. If Friday was any indication, the Mystics are going to rely heavily on Citron this season, and she has the ability to carry their offense.

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_Originally reported by [CBS Sports](https://www.cbssports.com/wnba/news/wnba-2026-opening-weekend-winners-losers/)._