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“WE CHAMPIONS BABY!!!!” New York Liberty center — and finals MVP — Jonquel Jones said it all on X after leading her team to victory on Sunday in a historic match against the Minnesota Lynx. The WNBA team’s 67-62 win was the first professional basketball championship for a New York team since the Knicks won the NBA finals in 1973.
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The Liberty prevailed after a controversial call pushed the game to overtime, bringing the hard-fought five-game series to an end.
When the end-of-game buzzer blared, confetti rained down on the crowd at Barclays Center as beloved New York Liberty mascot (and queer icon in her own right) Ellie the Elephant danced in celebration. The crowd, which included former Liberty player and the league's first out queer player, Sue Wicks, went wild as Jones and teammate Breanna Stewart hugged, basking in the monumental win.
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As the Liberty's starting lineup is reportedly 60% gay, the team is beloved by New York City’s sapphics, with games regularly playing at popular lesbian bars like Ginger’s and The Bush, both of which shared video to their Instagram Story of fans celebrating the win. That goes for the league itself, too: Wicks herself famously once said in reference to how queer the WNBA is, “I can't say how many players are gay [...] but it would be easier to count the straight ones.”
If you want to commemorate the Liberty’s first championship win, fans can buy merchandise at the Barclays Center and the Liberty’s online store starting Monday, including T-shirts by Brooklyn-based artist Shema Love.
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