The WNBA Has Another Referee Controversy on Its Hands After Chaotic Liberty-Dream Ending

In the final seconds of overtime during Game 2 of the WNBA playoffs between the Liberty and Dream, Breanna Stewart launched a desperation three from well behind the arc. She air-balled it, and Atlanta clinched the 101-98 win to take a 2-0 series lead into its road trip to New York. Angel Reese and the Dream are now just one win away from a spot in the WNBA Finals, while Stewart and the Liberty are left looking back at what went wrong in another bitter loss.

Specifically, looking at one confusing and potentially game-changing moment: Why didn’t the Liberty take a reset timeout before running their final offensive play?

The team was told by the referees that they did not have one, according to Stewart. The Liberty star addressed Game 2’s chaotic ending in her postgame press conference in which she plainly laid out her side of the story.

“Am I the one saying it, or you?” Stewart initially asked her coach, Chris DeMarco.

When DeMarco passed it off to her, she stated that the game’s referees told the Liberty they did not have a timeout.

“This is not blaming the refs, but when I asked both refs if we have a reset timeout at the end, and they tell us no, and they we leave the game with a reset timeout, it's pretty frustrating,” Stewart said. “Like, yeah okay I kind of got a good look at the end. But would just love to have some clarity on that situation as well.”

“[DeMarco] said let me check, he asked [crew chief] Fatou [Cissoko-Stephens], and then she said no. So then he said no. After Angel’s free throw.”

Breanna Stewart on the final possession:

"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" pic.twitter.com/wHvsMeafGE
— Oh No He Didn't (@ohnohedidnt24) October 8, 2026

Liberty-Dream postgame pool report doesn’t line up with Stewart’s comments on reset timeout confusion

Here’s where things get a little contradictory.

It took almost two hours until the game’s referees were made available to reporters for the postgame pool report. Crew chief Fatou Cissoko-Stephens was asked point-blank whether the Liberty had a reset timeout on the last play of the game after Reese’s free throws (the DPOY sank both of them prior to the Liberty inbounding the ball for Stewart’s heave). Cissoko-Stephen said yes.

In regard to Stewart’s claim that a referee told her she didn’t have a reset timeout, Cissoko-Stephens was then asked why that was the case.

“[Breanna] Stewart was standing behind referee [Kevin] Fahy when he confirmed with his partner between Reese's penalty free throws that the Liberty did indeed have a reset timeout remaining,” Cissoko-Stephens said.

That didn’t really answer the question. She was asked again to clarify whether Stewart was specifically told the Liberty didn’t have a reset timeout, but she merely regurgitated her previous answer.

This was the pool report I had with crew chief Fatou Cissoko-Stephens: pic.twitter.com/tgSaWSD5OY
— Alexa Philippou (@alexaphilippou) October 8, 2026

The pool report added that there was “no direct communication” with New York’s staff about the reset timeout.

Both sides of the story don’t line up, and it would appear that one of the parties is not telling the full truth, or has their communication wires crossed.

Per the WNBA’s overtime rules, each team gets two team timeouts and one reset timeout, the latter of which allows the team to advance the ball to half-court without huddling on the sideline. The Liberty used both their team timeouts in OT already, but ESPN’s scorebug showed they still had a reset timeout. The game’s announcers, too, were flabbergasted when New York didn’t use the reset on its final play of the game.

“They don’t use it! Why don’t they use it! Deflected to Stewart, hoisted up, air-ball! That’ll do it!” ESPN broadcaster Ryan Ruocco said on-air.

Breanna Stewart on the final possession of the Liberty's Game 2 loss, via @GreydyDiaz:

"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."pic.twitter.com/sGVA0k7g6y
— Underdog WNBA (@UnderdogWNBA) October 8, 2026

After the Liberty’s Game 2 loss, some blame was directed at coach Chris DeMarco, as it’s expected for team coaches and staff to keep track of their own timeout usage throughout the game (the pool report stated this as well, and noted that referees “do not officially track timeouts.”)

However, if what Stewart said was true, and DeMarco did allegedly check with a referee about the reset timeout, he arguably deserves less criticism. The morning after the game, videos have circulated on social media trying to pinpoint the moment when DeMarco asked about the timeout. There doesn’t appear to be any conclusive evidence, but in one replay video it looks like referee Kevin Fahy gestured to DeMarco telling him he didn’t have one. The Liberty have made an official inquiry with the league into the situation, per the New York Post’s Madeline Kenney.

Liberty’s Sabrina Ionescu, who finished with 10 points, had no interest in turning the narrative into one that targeted the refs.

“It was my fault,” Ionescu said after the game, via Madeline Kenney. “I took ownership for that. I mean this loss is on me. I got to take it on the chin and I got to be better.”

When the Liberty were down 99-98 in overtime, Ionescu committed one of her costliest turnovers of the season: She threw a cross-court pass that was meant for Jonquel Jones out of bounds with less than 10 seconds left on the clock.

Even if New York had used a reset timeout before its final play, there’s still no guarantee Stewart & Co. would have been able to sink a three to force a second overtime. The Liberty’s hot hand, French guard Marine Fauthoux who finished with 20 points off the bench and hit the game-tying three-pointer to send it to the overtime, had fouled out, and Ionescu, who has shot 40% from deep this playoffs, didn’t look confident down the stretch. (Playoff Stewie did go off for 35 points, 11 rebounds and six assists, though.)

Despite the Dream’s big team win—six Atlanta players put up double-digit points—Game 2 will perhaps go down in New York franchise history as a series of “what ifs,” and as another unfortunate blemish on the WNBA’s messy officiating track record.

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