
SAN ANTONIO(AP) Despite her early shooting struggles, Becky Hammon kept her focus and hit the clutch shots down the stretch.
Hammon scored 10 of her 16 points in the fourth quarter to rally the San Antonio Silver Stars to a 63-60 victory over the New York Liberty in their home opener Saturday night.
Hammon, who finished 4 for 12 from the field and 6 for 6 from the line, had two 3-pointers during a late 11-0 run that gave the Silver Stars the lead for good.
"I had some decent looks but just wasn't able to knock them down,'' she said. "You just keep shooting the ball and know that they're going to go in. Hpefully down the stretch you can just get a little more focused and when it came down to crunch time there's a lot more pressure and I just try to step up and help the team as much as possible.''
Sophia Young had 15 points for the Silver Stars (1-1), who raised their 2008 Western Conference championship banner before the game.
Shameka Christon scored 21 points to lead New York (0-3), which lost to San Antonio for the sixth straight time.
"I thought that Becky made plays down the stretch for her team to win,'' Liberty coach Pat Coyle said. "We just lost our focus for about a three or four minute stretch and that killed us, again.''
After Young hit 1 of 2 free throws with 5.8 to go, the Liberty's Loree Moore brought the ball down the court, but couldn't get a shot off and lost the ball as time expired.
The Silver Stars shot 22 for 30 on free throws as New York was whistled for 21 fouls. The Liberty were 9 for 10 from the line on San Antonio's 12 fouls.
"We are able to drive to the basket and force New York to foul us,'' Silver Stars coach Dan Hughes said. "That's a huge difference. That's what sustained us until we got into the flow of things in the ball game.''
New York took a 55-49 lead on Christon's 3-pointer with 4:35 left in the game.
San Antonio then went on its 11-0 run, including the two 3s by Hammon and one by Helen Darling, to take a five-point lead on Vickie Johnson's layup with 2:26 remaining.
"I know my offense will come around eventually, but I just try and help keep other people get involved,'' Hammon said. "Helen did a great job. I kicked it to her once, missed, but then the second time she stepped up and nailed a huge 3. ... She didn't hesitate at all and that was a big shot for us.''
Essence Carson's 3 with 1:07 left cut the deficit to 60-58, ending New York's 3 1/2-minute scoring drought.
"We need to execute for 40 minutes,'' Christon said. "Lately it's been 35, 37 minutes. Teams like San Antonio, Phoenix, if you make a lot of mistakes down the stretch they will make you pay.''
Janel McCarville's layup pulled the Liberty to 62-60 with 7.3 seconds left.
Leilani Mitchell's layup with 3 seconds left in the second quarter gave the Liberty a 31-29 halftime lead.
The teams meet again in New York on Friday night.