Fever-Liberty Preview

By MIKE LIPKA
Posted Jul 17 2010 12:56PM

With back-to-back victories coming out of the All-Star break, the New York Liberty hope they're beginning to establish themselves as a contender in the Eastern Conference.

Beating the Indiana Fever would certainly help bolster that belief.

New York has lost six straight meetings with the reigning East champions, a streak they'll try to snap with a fourth consecutive home win Sunday.

The Liberty (9-9) missed the playoffs last year. and appeared headed for the same fate after a 4-7 start. But they're closer to a postseason spot after winning five of their last seven, including home victories over Chicago and Washington in the last week.

Cappie Pondexter, who ranks fourth in the league with 20.0 points per game, sealed Thursday's 75-67 win over the Mystics by scoring eight points - including six free throws - in the final 2:47.

"Coach (Anne Donovan) wants the ball in my hands the last couple of seconds," Pondexter said. "I want the ball. They fouled, I know I can knock the free throws down and it just happened."

Janel McCarville was also a key presence with 16 points and 12 rebounds for her first double-double in 13 games.

"It's a great win," McCarville said. "We can celebrate today, but we got to get back to work tomorrow and start preparing for the next one."

New York has been searching for a way to beat the Fever for more than two years. The Liberty dropped all three meetings in 2009, then lost 78-73 at Indiana on June 5 to open this season's series.

Shavonte Zellous sparked the Fever with a season-high 23 points in that game.

The Liberty may have a difficult time again if Indiana (12-7) plays like it did in its most recent game, an 89-70 win over Atlanta on Friday to bounce back from a rare home loss two nights earlier.

"I think we all felt a little bit better," center Jessica Davenport said. "I think we're going to build on this and carry it over."

Davenport had 17 points in fewer than 23 minutes off the bench, while Katie Douglas added 20 points, but the leader for Indiana was Tamika Catchings, who totaled 23 points, 11 rebounds and six steals.

"Everybody sent a message that we are the defending Eastern Conference champions, and it's not going to be easy to come in here and steal another game from us," Douglas said.

The Fever have gone 8-2 at home, but they're hoping to improve their performances on the road, where they're 3-0 at Chicago and 1-5 everywhere else.

Catchings lifts Fever past Liberty 84-81 in OT

By VIN A. CHERWOO
Posted Jul 18 2010 6:44PM

NEW YORK(AP) Tamika Catchings scored nine of her 22 points in overtime to lift the Indiana Fever to an 84-81 victory over the New York Liberty on Sunday.

Katie Douglas had 21 points and Ebony Hoffman added 15 points to help the Fever (13-7) beat the Liberty for the seventh straight time. Catchings also had 10 rebounds and seven assists as Indiana moved into first place in the Eastern Conference, percentage points ahead of Atlanta.

Cappie Pondexter had a career-high 40 points for New York (9-10). Leilani Mitchell scored 15 on 5-for-6 shooting on 3-pointers and Janel McCarville added 12 points. Pondexter's previous high was 35 for Phoenix against Detroit on July 6, 2006.

Catchings' tiebreaking 3-pointer gave the Fever the lead for good, 78-75 with 4 minutes left in the extra period. Douglas followed with a jumper 51 seconds later to push the lead to five.

Pondexter's 3 pulled the Liberty to 80-79 with 2:10 to go, but Catchings hit two free throws 28 seconds later. Kalana Greene made two from the line for the Liberty with 1 1/2 minutes left to make it a one-point game again, but Catchings hit two more with 2.1 seconds left to seal Indiana's win.

Catchings tied the score at 73-all with a 3-pointer from the right corner with 50.7 seconds left, a shot that was confirmed by video review.

Both teams had chances to win in the final minute of regulation.

Pondexter missed a 3 with about 23 seconds to go, but Mitchell got the rebound in the right corner and the Liberty called back-to-back timeouts. Pondexter missed a short jumper from the right side with about 10 seconds left, and Tully Bevilaqua got the rebound for Indiana.

The Fever then called consecutive timeouts with 8.4 seconds left to set up a final play. Bevilaqua missed a jumper from the left side and McCarville grabbed the rebound for New York. On the ensuing play, Catchings stole the inbounds pass near midcourt and launched a long 3 that missed off the rim at the buzzer.

Mitchell's fifth 3 of the game gave the Liberty a 69-66 lead with 3:14 left, their first advantage since late in the second quarter. Pondexter's jumper with about 2 1/2 minutes to go put New York up five.

Briann January and Tammy Sutton-Brown had consecutive jumpers to pull Indiana within one with 1:27 to go. Pondexter followed with a jumper 20 seconds later.

After Bevilaqua's layup in the opening minute of the second half, Hoffman and Douglas combined to score Indiana's next 18 points. Hoffman had nine points and Douglas scored seven during a 16-8 run that gave the Fever a 56-47 lead, their biggest of the game, with about 1 1/2 minutes left in the third quarter.

Pondexter scored the next six points and Greene had a fast-break layup to pull the Liberty within one in the opening minute of the fourth quarter.

Mitchell's 3 tied the score at 60-all with 6:19 left.

• Fever: --
• Liberty: --

• Fever: --
• Liberty: --

• Lead Changes: 9
• Times Tied: 13

• Arena: Madison Square Garden, New York, NY
• Officials: #18 Kurt Walker, #8 Daryl Humphrey, #34 Maj Forsberg
• Attendance: 9508
• Duration: 2:15