Dream-Liberty Preview

By NOEY KUPCHAN
Posted Jun 04 2012 1:43PM

After losing their opening five games for the first time ever, the New York Liberty finally got in the win column their last time out behind a stifling defensive display.

They'll likely need to clamp down again with the Angel McCoughtry-led Atlanta Dream coming to town.

The Liberty look to make it two in a row Tuesday night against a Dream club trying to avoid losing back-to-back games for the first time in nearly a year.

Allowing an Eastern Conference-worst 85.5 points per game, New York (1-5) was outscored by an average of 17.4 during its winless start. It ended the skid with an 87-72 victory over Indiana in the back end of a home-and-home set Sunday.

Four-time WNBA All-Star Cappie Pondexter scored a season-high 25 points for the Liberty, who were blown out by the Fever 91-68 the night before.

"We were extra motivated, everybody was angry," Pondexter said. "We finally got a win under our belt. ... We're happy about it. Winning changes everything. (The win) feels awesome but it's a long season ahead of us. We just got to continue to keep going, staying positive with each other and just keep working.

"We made a lot of mistakes in our previous five games, where we knew we had the game and then lost it down the stretch. ... But (Sunday) we stuck together. I think that's a real positive."

New York held Indiana to 40.4 percent shooting and scored 27 points off 22 turnovers. The Liberty had forced an average of 12.8 turnovers during their losing streak.

"We got back to what gives us a chance to compete with anybody in the league, and that is our defense," coach John Whisenant said. "We had even distribution of our scoring. When we play defense harder, our offense is better."

The Liberty could be in for a tough test versus McCoughtry, whose 22.6 points per game rank second in the league.

While McCoughtry was at her best Saturday, her season-high 33 points weren't enough in a 94-92 overtime loss to Chicago.

"Angel is a great player," Sky center Sylvia Fowles said of McCoughtry, who made all 17 of her free throws. "She likes to throw her body into you, and everybody knows her game, but you just have to be poised because you're not going to stop her."

The Dream forced 26 turnovers, but were outrebounded 48-23 and went 5 of 22 on 3-pointers.

"We can learn from it and get ready for New York on Tuesday," guard Ketia Swanier said.

The defending East champions haven't suffered consecutive regular-season losses since July 31-Aug. 2.

New York took three of five from Atlanta last season, splitting two matchups at the Prudential Center.

Pondexter leads Liberty over Dream

Posted Jun 05 2012 10:21PM

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) After the New York Liberty lost their first five games of the season, All-Star guard Cappie Pondexter found herself in totally unfamiliar territory.

``Being 0-5, I never experienced that before anywhere in any part of my career,'' Pondexter said. ``It was awful. I knew we had to turn things around.''

Pondexter scored 26 points to lead the Liberty to their second straight win, a 79-74 victory over the Atlanta Dream on Tuesday night.

Pondexter took it upon herself to carry the Liberty to the victory, making clutch shots in the fourth quarter. Her driving goal with 8:29 left gave the Liberty the lead for good and her three-point play with 4:36 left pushed the lead to 70-66.

``We had to refocus the last couple of days after we lost five in a row,'' said Pondexter, who had nine points in the final period. ``It was just a case of me being aggressive. The important thing for us is to focus on what we need to do to win.''

Leilani Mitchell added 18 points in the victory.

``Of course, we knew we were a better team than 0-5,'' Mitchell said. ``But it's a long season and the league is so good. Any game could go either way. It was very frustrating to lose those five games, but we had to remain positive.''

Atlanta dropped to 2-4 after losing its second straight contest

Liberty head coach John Whisenant believes that the difference in his team is on the defensive end. Atlanta routed the Liberty 100-74 on May 25.

``We knew we had to defend better,'' Whisenant said. ``We surrendered 26 points less than when they hammered us. We struggled with our defense in the first five games, but we were better tonight. This is the way we have to play to be successful.''

Angel McCoughtry had 21 points and 14 rebounds to pace Atlanta, while Aneika Henry had 14 and Sancho Lyttle 12 points for the Dream.

New York held Atlanta to just six points over the final 4:53 to secure the win.

``It was a tough loss for us,'' Atlanta head coach Marynell Meadors said. ``We missed a lot of shots in the fourth quarter. Give the Liberty credit for playing hard. Our shots were there. They just didn't fall. I also thought they shot the ball better with Cappie and Mitchell.''

The Liberty also received 15 points and eight rebounds from Kia Vaughn.

The two teams traded leads over the first three quarter. Atlanta led 62-61 heading into the final period. Pondexter hit a jumper in the lane after putting on a dribbling exhibition to give the Liberty a 63-62 advantage with 8:29 remaining and Mitchell made a long 3-pointer to push the lead to 66-62 with 5:56 left.

The Liberty lost their first five games before beating Indiana at home on Sunday to end the longest winless streak to start the season in franchise history.

``We're playing harder now and with more confidence,'' Mitchell said. ``We're getting strong contributions from everyone. I think we're a better team now.''

• Dream: --
• Liberty: --

• Dream: --
• Liberty: --

• Lead Changes: 16
• Times Tied: 6

• Arena: Prudential Center, Newark, NJ
• Officials: #38 Lamont Simpson, #44 Felicia Grinter, #25 Marcus Clayton
• Attendance: 4823
• Duration: 1:54