Liberty-Mystics Preview

By PAUL DIGIACOMO
Posted Jun 07 2012 1:26PM

The New York Liberty appear to be getting on track after the worst start in franchise history. The Washington Mystics can't make that same claim.

New York goes for a third consecutive win while it looks to end a five-game road skid against the Mystics, who will be trying to avoid their second straight 1-5 start Friday night.

The Liberty were outscored by an average of 17.4 points in dropping their first five games before beating Indiana 87-72 on Sunday and Atlanta 79-74 on Tuesday.

Guard Cappie Pondexter led the way in both victories, scoring 25 points against the Fever and 26 versus the Dream after failing to reach the 20-point mark in any of the first five games.

"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 nine of the Liberty's 18 points in the fourth quarter Tuesday.

"We had to refocus the last couple of days after we lost five in a row," she said. "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."

Guard Leilani Mitchell has totaled 31 points in the back-to-back wins after scoring a combined 19 during the winless start.

"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."

Washington is dealing with its own frustration after another poor start. The Mystics lost their third straight Sunday, 94-86 at Connecticut.

They trailed the Sun by 14 points with less than two minutes left in the third quarter before cutting their deficit to three with a little over two minutes remaining in the game.

Connecticut, though, pushed the lead back to eight with 1:06 left.

"We have a lot of fighters on our team and we're going to keep on fighting," said forward Crystal Langhorne, who had a season-best 25 points and five rebounds. "We're going to keep playing hard and we're going to get a win."

The Mystics may have a chance to pick up a win Friday, as New York hasn't earned a victory in Washington since Aug. 16, 2009, and has been outscored by 15, 26 and 23 points in three road losses this season.

Liberty win third straight, 76-70 over Mystics

Posted Jun 08 2012 10:32PM

WASHINGTON (AP) Cappie Pondexter credited one sleepless night on the road with her role in the New York Liberty's turnaround. Early slumbering once again cost the Mystics.

Pondexter scored 25 points, the Liberty took control with a 30-5 first-half run and survived a frantic fourth quarter for their first road victory of the season, 76-70 over the Washington Mystics on Friday night.

Leilani Mitchell hit four 3-pointers and scored 16 points for the Liberty, winners of three straight after opening the season 0-5. The latest victory also snapped a five-game losing streak in Washington dating to the 2009 season.

New York shot 60 percent (21 of 35) from the field in the first half, including 5 of 6 from beyond the arc and held a 29 point with just under nine minutes 9 in the second quarter.

Crystal Langhorne led the Mystics (1-5) with 24 points.

Trailing 65-45 late in the third quarter, the Mystics pulled closer when Langhorne fueled a 15-2 run, followed by a spree of 3-point field goals. Matee Ajavon drilled her second from beyond the arc in the fourth quarter with 1:37 remaining as Washington trailed 73-70, but Essence Carson countered with a 3-pointer of her own on New York's next possession.

``We did a lot of great things in the first half, kind of shocked Washington,'' said Pondexter, who shot 9 of 13 from the field. ``They didn't expect us to come out as aggressive as we did. I think they made some adjustments in the second half. We got a little winded, but we played a solid game.''

The Liberty lost their three previous road games this season by an average of 21.3 points, including 91-68 at Indiana on June 2.

``It was embarrassing,'' Pondexter said. ``Myself, the leader of this team, I was angry, probably the worst team has ever seen me. I couldn't sleep. We had a back-to-back so I was pretty much up all night, just trying to figure things out."

Langhorne scored 10 points during the second-half rally. In her first start this season, Michelle Snow finished with 10 points and 12 rebounds.

With the Liberty leading 12-8 midway through the first quarter, Pondexter's running layup started a 13-0 run. Up 27-13, New York had a 15-0 spurt capped by Carson's three-point play that made it 42-13. Pondexter had 16 points in the first half, while Mitchell was perfect on three attempts from beyond the arc.

Meanwhile, Washington's penchant for slow starts this season continued.

``I don't have an explanation for it except that people weren't ready to play and that is unacceptable and inexcusable,'' Mystics coach Trudi Lacey fumed during her postgame press conference.

``What I'm going to do is find the five people that want to play together, that want to play defense and want to play (with) energy for the entire game.''

The Liberty's recent good fortune has coincided with improved defense and increased production from the starting backcourt.

After failing to score 20 points in the opening five games, Pondexter has topped that mark in three straight, averaging 25.3 points. In that span, Mitchell has connected on 11 of 18 (61.1 percent) 3-point attempts.

``Leilani, she's my backbone,'' Pondexter said. ``I can trust her to knock those shots down when I'm penetrating. She kind of keeps the lane open for me. When she's knocking shots down I can get in there easy.

Carson finished with 13 points for the Liberty.

• Liberty: --
• Mystics: --

• Liberty: Walker
• Mystics: Snow

• Lead Changes: 0
• Times Tied: 0

• Arena: Verizon Center, Washington, DC
• Officials: #39 Michael Price, #24 Tony Dawkins, #37 Matthew Myers
• Attendance: 9108
• Duration: 1:53