GAME NOTES

Tina Charles’ hook shot with 16 seconds remaining in overtime gave the New York Liberty a lead they wouldn’t relinquish as they beat the Chicago Sky on the road, 97-94.

The game marked the second consecutive matchup between these two teams. Chicago came out on top Friday night, 103-99.

The Liberty got off to a strong start against the red-hot Sky, holding a lead for a majority of the first half. Chicago got their first lead of the game at the 3:20 mark in the second quarter.

For the second consecutive game, all 10 Liberty players who saw the court registered a made field goal. Five players finished with at least 10 points.

Tina Charles led the Liberty with 28 points, her seventh game this season with at least 20. The forward is averaging 23.7 points per game in three matchups against the Sky this season.

Kia Vaughn registered a double-double in the contest, finishing with 12 points and 11 rebounds. The center’s last double-double came against Seattle last season (7/6/17).

Brittany Boyd finished with 14 points, her season-high, along with four rebounds and five assists.

Bria Hartley (10 points) and Shavonte Zellous (12 points) also finished in double figures.

Epiphanny Prince had a quiet night, registering just eight points. The guard came into the contest averaging 21.0 points per game over her past two.

The Liberty have averaged 98 points per game over the past two. The Sky scored over 90 points for their fourth straight game.

New York’s 29 made free throws were one shy of their season-high against Indiana (6/2).

The Liberty racked up 23 assists, their third straight game with at least that many. Their 10 steals marked their second consecutive game in double digits.

The contest marked the Liberty’s second overtime game (and victory) of the season. They needed extra time to beat the Fever earlier this season (6/2).

The victory snapped a five-game losing streak for the Liberty.

Head coach Katie Smith

on what the team brought in overtime… “We fought, we got up a little bit, gave up a couple buckets, but give them credit. I mean Quigley was just, she is something else. I knew when she was drafted and brought into Seattle as a player we played together one of my favorites, but they hit unreal shots. We made shots, we found Tina. We got stops when we needed too and rebounds. I’m just really proud and happy for our team to get this win, because we’ve been battling the last few games and right at the end. To get this one feels good.”

Smith on On Tina Charles’ performance… “We need to play inside out. We have a lot of good guards but she’s definitely a presence. But when she didn’t have many shots but when she touches it, she draws such a crowd. She’s a willing passer, which also helps us. She’s a main focal point of our team and we constantly want to have her at least touch the ball and it creates opportunities for others.”

Smith on Tina Charles first quarter to second quarter shooting… “We gotta mix it in, and she did hit one or two and she can do that, but again it’s like after that one or two lets get yourself right back on that block again it’s not only getting up the courage for herself, but it opens up a lot of things for everybody else. Cuts, and other shooters get opportunities. Again it’s for her to be versatile like she is. It’s helpful, because it’s helpful because it doesn’t necessarily get you stuck in one area and they gotta play us all over the floor”

Smith on the vets keeping up with rookies… “It feels good, we’re not old by too many standards. They’re kinda in their prime and also the stretch we’ve had. We’ve had a back to back, play here, and play again on Tuesday. But again this is what they do. They get in a routine just like all these teams, all of us. We end up being like alright get ready for games. You’re not in practice mode, you’d rather play games. They take care of their bodies, they’re professionals, they’ll have a day off tomorrow and will get back after it on Tuesday.”

Smith on veteran lineup the rookie like Kia Nurse coming off the bench… “It’s nice because she plays hard she gives you that boost of energy, takes good shots, flying around, plays d, rebound. She Basically just does whatever is needed. But it is nice to have Zellous and Z [Zahui B] and even Hartley and then Boyd comes in and honestly this is really her first, knock on wood, her first full year so again she’s really blossoming and really finding her niche. Just proud of everybody, because we need them all because every single game it may be someone else’s night we need them all locked in and engaged and leaving an impact wherever it may be.”

Smith on tie breaker points… “We got one more. We can even it up, 2 and 2. We love to win as many series as we can. We dug ourselves a little bit of a hole, but we’d love to find a way to make a little bit of a run here before the All Star break. I know we’re a couple games out of last place, just gotta get ourselves in the playoffs and I feel like we have the capability to do that, we gotta show up every night. It’s tough, this league is tough to win games, but it’s fun because you’re literally playing against the best every night. We wanna see
what we can do I thought we played really well for two games. Finally getting a win was nice, but we’re gonna have to lace ‘em back up on Tuesday.”

Smith on the Key to making playoffs… “For us it’s locking it in on the defensive end. Keeping people in front, rebound the basketball, communicating. And on the offensive end, again it’s people making shots, getting Tina obviously involved, everyone being a threat. Figuring oout how people are playing us, but the defense needs to be our staple and keeping people in front of us.”

Kia Vaughn on meaningful win… “We are trying to get momentum and get a few games under our belt. It’s been tough, real, real tough. It just means a lot because we keep fighting, we keep fighting a lot.”

Vaughn on the team’s mindset going into overtime… “Just trying to stay focused on what we’ve done that was good before we got into overtime. Just trying to stay aggressive you know, because during that time you’re like “C’mon let it be over.” But we have to continue to fight.”

Vaughn on coach’s message during overtime… “Push the ball defensively and defense, defense, defense. They got some tough shooters, so obviously we got to step up. If we needed to switch, talking it out, and keeping it going.”

Tina Charles on her performance in today’s game… “You get high-percentage shots when you’re closer to the basket. All my shots were post moves. I think any outside shots were three-point attempts. (I) try not to fade away too much, try to just go up into them and that’s the end result.”

Charles on what the win means for the team… “It means everything. I think we were on a 4 or 5 game losing streak. This is really a great confidence booster for us. We have always been so close when it came to winning other games that we’ve lost, so this is a big confidence booster for us. This is basically like a playoff series. And I think we came in with that mindset wanting to get this win. Katie made it aware to us that the series against them was 0-2 and so we wanted to try and tie the series and this is a great step towards that.”