Toronto Star
· collected 2026-10-08 · by Alan Cole The Associated Press
During a WNBA semifinal game on Wednesday night, New York Liberty star Breanna Stewart claimed that her team was incorrectly told they did not have a reset timeout left in overtime when attempting to inbound the ball for a last-second shot. This led to them passing up a better scoring opportunity by advancing the ball from under the basket. The broadcast showed the Liberty still had their reset, despite claims from referees denying its availability at the time. The WNBA clarified that while officials can confirm with the table about timeout status, teams are ultimately responsible for managing and tracking their timeouts themselves.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-10-08,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
ATLANTA (AP) — The New York Liberty opted not to advance the ball for a better shot at a tying 3-pointer, then said after their loss Wednesday night that officials told them they didn’t have a reset timeout left.
asserted
they → opt → timeout
The Liberty inbounded the ball under the basket, forcing them to go the length of the court, after Angel Reese made two free throws to give the Atlanta Dream a three-point lead with 4.3 seconds remaining in overtime.
asserted
seconds → inbounde → overtime
The broadcast of the game showed that the Liberty had their reset, which is a WNBA rule allowing a team to advance the ball to halfcourt without going back to its bench to huddle.
asserted
team → show → bench
Breanna Stewart missed a 32-foot attempt and the Dream took a 2-0 lead in the WNBA semifinals with their 101-98 victory.
asserted
Dream → miss → victory
WNBA rules state that “each team is entitled to one Reset in the final two minutes of the fourth period and one Reset in the last two minutes of any overtime period.”
asserted
team → state → period
The Liberty had used both regular timeouts in overtime — they lost a coach’s challenge to cost them one — but hadn’t used their reset.
asserted
they → use → reset
Yet Stewart said they were told it wasn’t available.
asserted
it → say → ?
“This is not blaming the refs, but when I ask both refs if we have a reset timeout again, and they tell us no, and we leave the game with a reset timeout, it’s pretty frustrating,” Stewart said.
asserted
Stewart → blame → timeout
“Yeah, OK, I kind of got a good look at the end, but we’d just like to have some clarity on that situation as well.”
asserted
we → get → situation
Stewart clarified that the conversation with the officials happened while Reese was at the line.
asserted
Reese → clarify → line
“I asked Kevin (referee Kevin Fahy), I said, ‘Do we have a reset timeout?’
asserted
we → ask → timeout
And he said, ‘I’m going to check with the table.’
asserted
I → say → table
So then he goes to Fatou (crew chief Fatou Cissoko-Stephens) and she said no.
asserted
she → go → Fatou
So he told me no,” Stewart said.
asserted
Stewart → tell → me
“Of course, who knows what would have happened to end the game, but we would have had hopefully a better shot on goal.”
asserted
we → know → goal
The WNBA’s pool report, conducted with Cissoko-Stephens, contradicted Stewart.
asserted
report → conduct → Stewart
“Stewart was standing behind referee Fahy when he confirmed with his partner between Reese’s penalty free throws that New York did indeed have a reset timeout remaining,” Cissoko-Stephens said.
asserted
Stephens → stand → timeout
Further in the pool report, the league clarified the protocols around timeout tracking.
asserted
league → clarify → tracking
“Available timeouts are tracked by the scorer’s table and statistical staff,” Cissoko-Stephens said.
asserted
Stephens → track → table
“Teams are responsible for managing and tracking their timeout usage throughout the game.
asserted
Teams → manage → game
Officials may confirm the status of timeouts with the table when necessary, but they do not officially track timeouts.”
uncertain
they → confirm → timeouts
New York coach Chris DeMarco, like Stewart, said he was told the team did not have a timeout, which referees also disputed.
asserted
referees → say → which
“There was no direction communication with the officials (and) the team,” Cissoko-Stephens said.
asserted
Stephens → be → officials
Atlanta coach Karl Smesko was surprised the Liberty didn’t advance the ball.
asserted
Liberty → surprise → ball
“I thought they had a timeout left,” Smesko said.
asserted
Smesko → think → timeout
“I was expecting it to be advanced, but it wasn’t.
asserted
it → expect → ?
So we had to play, and fortunately we were able to get the stop.”
asserted
we → have → stop
The Liberty made an official inquiry with the WNBA.
___
asserted
Liberty → make → WNBA
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