Lynx-Liberty Preview

By SANTOSH VENKATARAMAN
Posted Jun 21 2010 3:51PM

A successful weekend has the Minnesota Lynx feeling they're headed in the right direction.

The Lynx look to notch a third straight victory and end a four-game skid at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday night against the struggling New York Liberty.

Minnesota (4-9) was saddled with the worst record in the league before sweeping a home-and-home series with Tulsa over the weekend. Seimone Augustus averaged 22.5 points and made a total of nine 3-pointers in the two wins.

"Our goal was to sweep Tulsa in these two games and we were very focused on that goal," coach Cheryl Reeve said. "We knew that by doing that, it would set the stage for taking us to the next level. We accomplished that and are ready to move forward."

The Lynx shot 51 percent from the field, including 12 for 19 (63 percent) on 3-pointers in a 92-78 road win Saturday. They finished with 21 assists and 12 steals, and forced the Shock into 21 turnovers.

"We didn't turn the ball over," Reeve said. "We forced them into turnovers. A combination of all those things translated into a win."

Augustus is averaging 18.0 points in four games since recovering from a torn ACL and abdominal surgery. The Lynx, who haven't won at MSG since a 64-60 win July 15, 2005, are finally getting healthier after star guard Candice Wiggins also missed four games.

That could be bad news for New York (4-6), the top 3-point shooting team in the league at 37.9 percent. Newcomer Cappie Pondexter is second in the league in scoring with 20.7 points per game, but the Liberty have had trouble inside.

That was the case Friday in a 92-84 home loss to league-best Seattle. Pondexter scored 24 for the Liberty, who were outrebounded 33-21.

The game marked the New York debut for Plenette Pierson, who had 10 points and three assists after being acquired from Tulsa on June 14 for fourth-year forward Tiffany Jackson.

"Plenette did a great job getting out in transition, and Taj (McWilliams-Franklin) here and there," coach Anne Donovan said. "Seattle did a great job in their transition defense, getting back. I think they contained us. ... We didn't get anything easy in transition."

Pierson averaged 15.0 points in three games against the Lynx this year for Tulsa.

Minnesota will try to forget a terrible game in its last visit to New York on Aug. 23, 2009, when it blew an early 13-point lead in an 80-67 loss. The Lynx made 3 of 20 3-pointers, and Wiggins hit 1 of 10 shots for six points.

Lynx topple Liberty 75-68

Posted Jun 23 2010 12:04AM

NEW YORK(AP) Rebekkah Brunson had 21 points 13 rebounds and Seimone Augustus added 20 points to lead the Minnesota, but the Lynx lost Candice Wiggins to a ruptured Achilles' tendon in their 75-68 win over the New York Liberty on Tuesday night.

Wiggins, Minnesota's first-round draft choice out of Stanford in 2008, injured her left leg in the fourth quarter and left the game with 8 seconds remaining.

``Win the game, lose a player, kind of thing for the year,'' Minnesota coach Cheryl Reeve said. ``Our hearts go out to Candice. Candice gives us a lot of things, she gives us flexibility, she gives a second ball handler. She was really getting going and playing well, she's a leader so were going to miss some intangibles and certainly some very specific basketball things and we're just going to have to find a way to fill the void.''

Wiggins came in averaging 15.3 points and 3.0 rebounds per game.

Minnesota (5-9) has won three in a row and the Liberty (4-7) have lost three straight.

Nicky Anosike added 13 points and Lindsay Whalen added 11 for Minnesota.

``We wanted to come in and get our third win in a row, get on that streak,'' Anosike said.

Cappie Pondexter and Nicole Powell each scored 16 points to lead New York. Taj McWilliams-Franklin had 13 points and Janel McCarville added 10 for Liberty.

Trailing 59-45 early the fourth quarter, the Liberty went on a 17-3 run and tied the game at 62-62 on a free throw by Leilani Mitchell with 4:31 left. Powell had seven points during the spurt.

Augustus converted a three-point play to put the Lynx up 65-62. The Liberty retook the lead 66-65 on a layup by McWilliams-Franklin and two free throws by Pondexter.

Augustus then made a 3-pointer and another jumper in the last two minutes and the Lynx closed the game on a 10-2 run.

The Lynx, who were trailing 34-32 at the half, outscored the Liberty 24-11 in the third quarter.

``I just think we ran poor offense in the third quarter,'' Liberty coach Anne Donovan said. ``But defensively there was lapses where we didn't communicate and that has been an issue for us.''

``It was a really good third quarter for us,'' Reeve said. ``We did it off our defense, I thought we got good deflections, we got out and ran a little bit, got some easy baskets, then it dried up a little bit.''

``I think our offense wasn't as efficient and kind of let them back into the game. We were up 15 and we just gave them opportunities to get back in the game and they made big shots.''

NOTES: Brunson had her seventh double-double of the season. ... McWilliams-Franklin got her 2,500th career rebound. She is the No. 1 leading rebounder in the WNBA among active players and No. 2 all time behind Lisa Leslie (3,307).

• Lynx: --
• Liberty: --

• Lynx: --
• Liberty: --

• Lead Changes: 15
• Times Tied: 15

• Arena: Madison Square Garden, New York, NY
• Officials: #4 Sue Blauch, #28 Angelica Suffren, #58 Josh Tiven
• Attendance: 7537
• Duration: 2:0