Sun-Liberty Preview

By SANTOSH VENKATARAMAN
Posted Aug 17 2011 12:40PM

A morale-boosting win has the Connecticut Sun feeling confident. The New York Liberty can't say the same about the way they are playing.

The visiting Sun can improve to 3-0 against the Liberty this season Thursday night in a matchup of teams battling for postseason positioning.

Both teams won Tuesday, but their reactions were vastly different.

Connecticut (16-8) handed league-leading Minnesota its most lopsided defeat of the season, 108-79. Renee Montgomery had 17 points and seven assists while Kara Lawson added 16 points.

"It is a great confidence booster, without question," Lawson said. "They have been the best team in the league all year long. It was a measuring-stick game for us. Whenever you are playing the team with the best record in the league, you want to see how you stack up against them."

New York (14-11), meanwhile, needed late heroics from Cappie Pondexter in a 69-66 victory over last-place Washington. Pondexter's driving basket with 13.5 seconds left gave the Liberty the lead for good.

The Liberty have split their last 10 games, and three of their past four contests have been decided by three points or fewer.

"All our games have been close lately," coach John Whisenant said. "I wish I had an explanation for our lulls. We are obviously not where we need to be, but we're still right there in the playoff hunt."

Connecticut is in second place in the Eastern Conference, 2 1/2 games ahead of third-place New York. The top two teams gain home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs, and the Sun can clinch the tiebreaker with a victory Thursday.

Tina Charles is averaging 19.5 points and 5.5 rebounds for Connecticut in the season series. Another key for the Sun has been the energy provided by former Liberty guard Kalana Greene, who has totaled 17 points, 10 rebounds and five steals in the two meetings.

Charles is sixth in the WNBA with 17.3 points per game and first in rebounding with a 10.8 average. She had 16 points and 18 boards Tuesday.

"We feel like we are building into a good team," Lawson said. "We feel like we are a team that is going to make the playoffs and a team that has as good a shot as any team in the Eastern Conference to advance far."

Pondexter scored 26 points Tuesday after a 30-point effort in Saturday's 82-71 loss at Indiana. She ranks fifth in the league with 17.9 points per game but is averaging 13.5 on 40.0 percent shooting against Connecticut this year.

The Liberty have won three straight at home despite trailing in the fourth quarter in each game.

Pondexter, Liberty beat Sun 84-81 in overtime

Posted Aug 18 2011 10:39PM

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) Cappie Pondexter believes she does her best work with the clock winding down and the game hanging in the balance.

``I want the ball with the game on the line,'' said Pondexter, who scored 27 points and had late-game heroics for a second straight game, leading the New York Liberty to an 84-81 overtime victory over the Connecticut Sun on Thursday night.

``I'm a scorer and a winner,'' said Pondexter, who capped a 17-point, fourth-quarter comeback with a 3-pointer and scored six points in the extra session. ``I'm willing to do whatever is necessary to win. If I have to score, I'll do it. I want to put the team on my shoulders and bring it home.''

Pondexter's fall-away jumper from 18 feet out with the shot clock winding down with 24.3 seconds left in overtime gave the Liberty the lead for good. They had to survive some officials' reviews and three last-second shots, but the Liberty managed to escape with their first win against the Sun in three meetings this season.

``What can you say about Cappie?'' asked Liberty head coach John Whisenant, who earned the 100th win of his WNBA coaching career. Whisenant is in his first year with the Liberty after five with the Sacramento Monarchs, including winning the 2005 WNBA title.

``She's definitely an MVP candidate. She plays up every game with the game on the line. She practices hard and plays hard.''

Pondexter also made the winning shot Tuesday night against Washington.

The Liberty (15-11) moved within 1 1/2 games of the Sun (16-9) in the Eastern Conference standings. It was the Liberty's third straight win and snapped a two-game win streak for the Sun.

The Liberty entered the fourth quarter, trailing the Sun by 17 points (67-52), but used a stifling defense to mount the comeback, outscoring the Sun 22-7 to head to the extra session.

``We didn't play defense like the way we like to over the first three quarters, but when we get it right, we get good results,'' Whisenant said. ``We had good results in that fourth quarter.''

The Liberty also did a fine job on collapsing on Sun center Tina Charles, who finished with 29 points and 14 rebounds, but had just four points after the third quarter.

``She's a great player and she's hard to defend,'' Whisenant said. ``We did a better job of keeping her away from the ball later on.''

Charles, who had 17 points in the first half, was disappointed with the way the game slipped away.

``The way things were going over the first three quarters, we were in good shape,'' said Charles, who reached double figures in points and rebounds for the 15th time in 25 games this season. ``But a lot of times we have a big lead, we let it get away. We can't do that. It's definitely tough to lose this way, both physically and mentally.''

In the extra session, Pondexter hit three jumpers and Kia Vaughn (17 points, 11 rebounds) added a rebound basket to give the Liberty the win. The Sun missed a game-winning attempt with 10.8 seconds left and had another possession that ended in a turnover with 1.8 seconds left.

Besides Pondexter and Vaughn, the Liberty got 19 points from Essence Carson, who made two free throws with .6 seconds left to ice the victory.

Renee Montgomery had 16 points, and Kara Lawson and Asjha Jones had 10 points each for the Sun.

• Sun: --
• Liberty: --

• Sun: --
• Liberty: --

• Lead Changes: 10
• Times Tied: 7

• Arena: Prudential Center, Newark, NJ
• Officials: #55 Eric Brewton, #8 Daryl Humphrey, #17 Scott Twardoski
• Attendance: 7245
• Duration: 2:21