Storm-Liberty Preview

By MATT BEARDMORE
Posted Jun 17 2010 11:32PM

The Seattle Storm's winning streak is over. They'll look to start a new one Friday night at Madison Square Garden.

The Western Conference-leading Storm try to bounce back from their first loss in three weeks as they face the New York Liberty.

Playing the first of three games in four nights, Seattle (9-2) shot 37.7 percent Thursday and had its five-game winning streak snapped, falling 72-65 at Indiana. The Storm had a season-low seven points in the second quarter en route to their first loss since May 27 at Chicago.

"I think they challenged us physically and mentally,'' said coach Brian Agler, one win shy of becoming the eighth coach in league history with 100. "We were inconsistent on our response. It was like a roller coaster.''

Before returning home for a Sunday night matchup with San Antonio, the Storm will go for their fourth consecutive victory against the Liberty, including a sweep of last season's two meetings. After winning 70-69 at KeyArena last Aug. 8, Seattle posted a 65-58 victory at New York on Sept. 1.

Storm star Lauren Jackson, who is now fourth in the league with 20.1 points per game, was sidelined for the September contest with a stress fracture in her back.

While the Storm continue a busy stretch in their schedule, the Liberty (4-5) will take the court for the first time since Saturday's 82-65 loss at Washington.

New York shot 49.0 percent from the field but committed a season-high 21 turnovers and failed to notch its third straight win.

"We played with lack of energy, lack of composure," said Liberty coach Anne Donovan, who coached the Storm from 2003-07, and led them to the 2004 title. "In the second half I think we got it together better but we can't have 38 points on turnovers. That's not going to win a game, I don't care who you're playing.''

Donovan is hoping the frontcourt gets a boost from Plenette Pierson, who is expected to make her Liberty debut Friday. The veteran forward, averaging 12.1 points and 2.5 rebounds this season, was acquired from Tulsa on Monday in a deal that sent forward Tiffany Jackson to the Shock.

The backcourt matchup between Seattle's Sue Bird and New York's Cappie Pondexter should be an intriguing one.

Despite having a season-low one assist Thursday, Bird leads the league with 6.2 per game. Pondexter, the reigning Eastern Conference player of the week, ranks third in the league at 20.3 points per game and is tied for second in assists with 5.3.

Last season with Phoenix, Pondexter averaged 19.5 points, 6.8 assists and 7.0 rebounds in four games versus the Storm.

Seattle, which hasn't lost two in a row since a three-game slide Sept. 3-10, has won 10 of 17 all-time meetings with New York.

Bird, Jackson help Storm hold off Liberty 92-84

By VIN A. CHERWOO
Posted Jun 18 2010 10:07PM

NEW YORK(AP) Sue Bird scored 13 of her 22 points in the fourth quarter to lead the Seattle Storm to a 92-84 victory over the New York Liberty on Friday night.

Lauren Jackson had 20 points and 10 rebounds, Tanisha Wright scored 18 points and Swin Cash added 16 for the league-leading Storm (10-2).

Cappie Pondexter scored 24 points for New York (4-6), which has lost consecutive games after winning two in a row. Leilani Mitchell had 13 points, Taj McWilliams-Franklin added 11 and Plenette Pierson had 10 in her Liberty debut.

With New York trailing by nine with about 2 1/2 minutes to go, Pondexter scored 10 points to help the Liberty pull to 86-84 on her 3 with 33 seconds left. New York didn't score again, though.

Wright, Bird - who had eight points in the final 2:34 - and Jackson made two free throws each to seal Seattle's win.

The Storm opened the fourth quarter with a 10-2 run, capped by Bird's 3-pointer and fadeaway jumper, to take a 72-65 lead with 6:09 left.

McWilliams-Franklin made two free throws and Pierson had a jumper to pull New York within three about a minute later. However, Wright had a 3 with 4:41 to go to push Seattle's lead to six.

The Storm got two offensive rebounds to help run time off the clock and capitalized when Wright converted a three-point play with 2:52 left to increase the lead to 80-71.

The Liberty scored nine straight points during a 1:34 stretch midway through the third, taking a 50-46 lead on Pierson's layup with 4:19 left.

Wright had two 3s and Svetlana Abrosimova made one in the last 3 1/2 minutes of the quarter for Seattle, but Kalana Greene scored seven points for the Liberty - including a layup with under 3 seconds left to give New York a 63-62 lead heading to the fourth.

Jackson hit a 3-pointer and Cash had a three-point play to give the Storm a 22-17 lead with 8:06 left in the first half.

The Liberty scored the next eight points, taking a 23-22 lead on Pierson's layup about 2 minutes later.

The teams traded leads the rest of the second quarter, with neither leading by more than two points until Bird's jumper with 8.2 seconds left gave the Storm a 37-33 lead at halftime.

• Storm: --
• Liberty: --

• Storm: --
• Liberty: --

• Lead Changes: 20
• Times Tied: 10

• Arena: Madison Square Garden, New York, NY
• Officials: #9 Denise Brooks, #55 Eric Brewton, #11 Lauren Bass
• Attendance: 8883
• Duration: 2:0