“HEART!”

Standing out among travel plans and other notes, sprawled, in big blue block letters, across the whiteboard in the New York Liberty’s locker room, was the word that defined the their 91-88 victory over the Dallas Wings.

“I wrote on the board the word, ‘heart.’ I thought we had great heart tonight,” Liberty Head Coach Bill Laimbeer said postgame. “We were tired, and we didn’t necessarily play a great game. We didn’t get a lot of stops tonight, and in the second half we struggled to score, which was very frustrating.”

It was quintessential Laimbeer; proud of his team, but never quite satisfied. And as per usual, his complaints were right on point.

The Liberty definitely did not get a lot of stops tonight. Dallas’ 15 3-pointers were the most by a Liberty opponent this season, and the 88 points Dallas scored were the second most New York has given up this year. The Liberty also struggled to score in the second half, their 35 points just barely eclipsing the 34 they poured in during the second quarter alone.

Yet, on the schedule page of the Liberty’s website, next to the word “final,” is a green W. For all the flaws, including the double-digit second half lead they gave up, the Liberty walked out of The Garden tonight with a win. And it all goes back to that one word: heart.

Mid-way through the third quarter, the Liberty were up 64-54 and cruising. However, just a few minutes later, when the buzzer sounded to mark the end of the frame, the score was tied at 72. Then, with just under five minutes left, the Liberty trailed by four. The effects of their three-game, 6,150 mile road trip, which took them from Seattle, to Los Angeles, to San Antonio, and back home again, were starting to become apparent.

As Laimbeer said, they were tired. For a hungry Wings team–looking to end a five-game losing streak–to have closed things out in the final few minutes would have been disappointing from the Liberty’s perspective, but understandable.

Lambieer was right though, the Liberty had heart. They never gave up, never packed it in, despite a nearly four minute stretch in the middle of the fourth quarter in which they turned the ball over five times and missed four straight shots. 

In addition to their heart, they also they had Kiah Stokes. The second-year forward swiped a steal, stuffed three Wings shots, and grabbed three rebounds in the final five minutes alone, earning high praise from Laimbeer. “I thought Kiah Stokes made some phenomenal defensive plays when they were trying to drive and draw fouls, and she just swatted the ball.”

Stokes’ effort on the defensive end, along with clutch shooting from Sugar Rodgers and Tina Charles, who combined for 11 points in the final 4:03, proved just enough for New York to sneak out a win. “The fact that we were able to close out this game was really huge,” Charles told WNBA.com afterwards. “Because there was a couple of games we gave away, in overtime especially.”

Charles, of course, figured prominently in the victory, and not just down the stretch. Her 28 points moved her scoring average for the season to 20.6, second in the league behind Diana Taurasi. It was also the seventh time in 10 games in which Charles has lead the Liberty in scoring.

Tonight’s victory was an important one for the Liberty, and not only because it showed they could execute down the stretch and win despite not playing their best.

This was their fourth win in five games, moving their record to 6-4 on the season. Suddenly, despite sputtering a bit to start the campaign, they sit just one game behind the Atlanta Dream for the top spot in the Eastern Conference. More importantly, for they now hold the third best record in the league, a position that will be of much importance come playoff time.