NEW YORK >> The Minnesota Lynx have had the best of the New York Liberty this year, winning two of the three matchups and the Commissioner’s Cup final.

On Sunday, the Lynx looked poised to win an easy one over New York before needing to hold off a furious fourth quarter rally led by Breanna Stewart to beat the Liberty 88-79. That kept alive Minnesota’s chance of the top seed in the playoffs.

“We’re the number two team in the league and we just played the number one team, and we’re really prideful about that,” Minnesota coach Cheryl Reeve said. “Our belief to be successful every game that we play. It’s a hell of a win.”

Bridget Carleton scored 19 points and Napheesa Collier added 18 points and 13 rebounds for Minnesota (29-9), which needs to win its final two games and have New York (31-7) lose both to earn the top seed. The Lynx extended their lead over the Connecticut Sun for the No. 2 seed.

The Lynx moved two games in front of the Sun, who lost to Las Vegas later in the day. Connecticut and Minnesota play on Tuesday for the final time in the regular season. The Sun hold the head-to-head tiebreaker.

Breanna Stewart had a huge effort in the loss with 38 points and 18 rebounds. She had 17 of those points in the fourth quarter.

“It says a lot. It’s an understatement to say that’s a really good team,” Reeve said. “They have been the best team in the league. We were up 26, obviously we played great in that stretch. ... We were disappointed in some of our execution and you can lose your mind. We had to find our footing and find a way to win the game.”