NOTES

The New York Liberty struggled in a loss to the Los Angeles Sparks, falling 80-54 on the road.

Shavonte Zellous made her return to the Liberty lineup after missing the matchup against the Aces on Friday due to illness.

Epiphanny Prince entered the Liberty starting lineup for the first time this season. The guard has been gradually working her way back from a concussion that sidelined her for the team’s first seven games.

The Liberty got off to a sluggish start with just 12 points in the opening frame, their lowest first quarter output of the season.

The Liberty trailed by just two points at the six-minute mark in the second quarter, but the Sparks went on a 184 run to close out the first half.

The Liberty suffered from a pair of scoring droughts in the first half; one lasted just under four minutes at the beginning of the first quarter, and the other lasted nearly five minutes midway through the second quarter.

Amanda Zahui B led the Liberty with 21 points off the bench, establishing a new career-high. The center has averaged 17.5 points per game over the past two, and she drained a pair of threes in both contests.

Brittany Boyd had a solid all-around game for the Liberty, notching seven points, six rebounds, and eight assists.

Tina Charles scored in double figures for the 12th straight game to start the season, but her 10 points were a new season-low.

Liberty starters finished with just 18 points in the contest.

New York made just three of their 10 attempts from the free throw line, while Los Angeles converted 10 of 18.

The Liberty’s 54 points marked a new season-low, and it matches their lowest output from the 2017 season (6/29 against the Mystics). The 26-point loss is New York’s largest margin of defeat in 2018.

QUOTES

Head Coach Katie Smith on takeaways last two games…

“Similar in the sense, but obviously LA is a bit different. Really wide open, don’t really have a big on the block. We just came from Vegas, and you know they have some true fives and four players, so we knew they were going to be cutting a lot, driving a lot, and we wanted to keep our defense in and make them take jump-shots. Make them take contested threes. Obviously Riquna Williams got a little hot, but really no one else hurt us from the perimeter, again get a little sucked in, get a little ball watching, and they get some cuts down the middle. But really, biggest thing is, we can’t put the ball in the hole. Got to find a way to score, 54 points isn’t going to cut it. Holding them to 80 you have to at least have a shot to keep yourself in the ball game. For us right now, it’s got to be finding multiple people that are going to be consistently scoring the basketball.”

Tina Charles on second half… “Going into the half, we were confident, wanted to just keep building on the defensive end, just to execute plays. When it comes down to it we just need to make shots. You know, we’re not scoring the ball enough, and that’s going to hurt you in this league when everyone is good, and you need to score some points.”

Charles on Riquna Williams… “She was very efficient and made some big threes, which game them some momentum. But as we are speaking about coming off the bench Zahui B came out. If there’s anything positive we can take from this road trip, it’s how Amanda has been playing off the bench, just scoring, finishing, being an inside presence, and her outside shot hits as well.”

Charles on today’s takeaways… “Got to score the basketball. That’s the biggest thing. Got to score the basketball. New York’s foundation has always been our defense, but right now we have been struggling to score the basketball and that’s really an importance in a whole bunch of games coming up. We don’t have a whole lot of practice time, so whatever it is, we need to stay confident in ourselves as individuals and what we do in this game to be able to score the ball.”

Amanda Zahui B on career-high 21 points… “It sucks that we lost, so you know I’d rather for us to win, but you know obviously it feels good showing my team that they can have confidence in me. The coaches are letting me shoot, letting me do what I’m comfortable with doing, so I just got to improve on that, and do a better job on the defensive side.”