Liberty Top Fever In Battle Of Unbeatens

STAR OF THE GAME Tamika Catchings Catchings battled on the court against the Liberty, contributing 21 points and nine assists. Catchings stepped up to capture four total rebounds and three steals as well. UNSUNG HERO Anna DeForge DeForge tied Catchings with four rebounds. She shot 100 percent from the free throw line, making 4-of-4. DeForge contributed 12 points while playing an even 30 minutes. QUOTABLE Brian Winters In general: “Our defense just wasn’t good enough. It’s tough to beat any team that shoots 62 percent. I have to give [New York] credit. They played with more intensity than we did, and they were a better team than we were.” Tamika Catchings In general: “New York was definitely a team on a mission. They played hard for 40 minutes and made it tough on us. Once we gave them some momentum, we always had to play from behind. We had some lapses for some reason, where we go from being a good team to a bad team. Not just bad, really bad. But then we get good again, but that’s not enough to win in this league.” HIDDEN NUMBERS Points in the paint: Fever 34, Liberty 32 Second-chance points: Fever 9, Liberty 4 Fast-break points: Fever 6, Liberty 6 Points off turnovers: Fever 16, Liberty 23 Starters scoring: Fever 56, Liberty 61 Bench scoring: Fever 11, Liberty 17

GAME REPORT
	Liberty 78, Fever 67
June 5, 2007 at Madison Square Garden (New York City, NY) Box Score | WNBA Recap

NEW YORK(AP)-- Loree Moore, Ashley Battle and Cathrine Kraayeveld each scored 15 points to lead the surprising New York Liberty to a 78-67 victory over the Indiana Fever on Tuesday night.

Jessica Davenport added 12 points and Erin Thorn had 10 to help New York (5-0) extend the franchise's best start since opening 7-0 in the league's inaugural 1997 season.

Tamika Catchings had 21 points and Anna DeForge scored 12 for Indiana (4-1), which had opened with four wins for the second straight year.

The Liberty, a franchise-worst 11-23 last season, won the first matchup in WNBA history between undefeated teams with at least three wins. New York will have a chance to do it again Friday night when it hosts the defending champion Detroit Shock (4-0).

After trailing by 13 early in the third quarter, the Fever closed to 55-53 on Ebony Hoffman's layup with 37 seconds left in the period. Indiana nearly took the lead at the end of the quarter, but Tully Bevilaqua's 3-pointer at the buzzer was disallowed after a video review.

Kraayeveld had seven points in New York's 18-6 run to open the fourth quarter. Moore's driving layup with 4:25 left stretched the Liberty's lead to 73-59, matching their largest in a game this season.

Battle's 3 with 5:43 left in the second quarter gave the Liberty their first lead, 21-19, and they didn't trail again. Davenport's layup in the opening minute of the third quarter gave New York a 13-point lead.

Both teams struggled with their shooting early. Indiana was 6-for-16 in the first quarter and New York was 3-for-9. However, the Liberty were 12-for-15 in the second quarter while taking a 37-26 halftime lead.