One night after avoiding elimination, the New York Liberty look to bolster their playoff hopes when they host the Connecticut Sun on Friday.

New York (14-18) stayed alive with a dramatic 73-72 win at Washington on Thursday. Shameka Christon put the Liberty ahead with two free throws with 9.8 seconds left and forced Mystics star Alana Beard to miss the last shot of the game.

"We played with a sense of urgency and that's what we needed to do," Christon said. "I think a lot of people didn't expect us to win this game. We really didn't think about that. We just went out there and played hard."

The win pulled New York within one-half game of Washington for the fourth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. The Liberty, however, control their own destiny and will earn a first-round matchup with Detroit by winning their final two games.

"The most important thing is focusing on Connecticut and how we can beat them," New York coach Pat Coyle said. "We got to keep it on what's really important, the game."

Janel McCarville led New York with 18 points on 8-of-11 shooting Thursday. She's averaging 17.1 points over her last 11 games after not scoring in the Liberty's first seven games this season.

Connecticut (18-14) already has clinched a playoff spot and will meet Indiana in the first round. The Sun can still gain home-court advantage in that series since they trail the Fever by just one game.

It doesn't appear as if Connecticut really needs that advantage since it completed a four-game season sweep of Indiana with a 77-74 road win on Wednesday. The Sun have won 12 of the last 14 matchups against the Fever.

"It helps if you have that game on your home court," Connecticut coach Mike Thibault said. "The series is such a funky, short format that it's hard to say it has a bigger importance than it does."

Nykesha Sales scored a career-high 32 points and Lindsay Whalen added 17 for Connecticut, which won its fourth straight at Conseco Fieldhouse.

It's not the only visiting arena where the Sun have enjoyed recent success, having also won four straight games at Madison Square Garden. They rallied for a 67-61 road win on July 29 by outscoring New York 22-13 in the fourth quarter in their first trip to the Garden this season.

Connecticut has won two of three overall against New York this season and six of the last seven meetings.

Sun All-Star forward Asjha Jones sat out Wednesday's game with an ankle injury, but is expected to return to action.