NEW YORK – Tina Charles is one of the WNBA’s most prominent names, a perennial All-Star and two-time Olympic gold medalist. Within seconds of starting a postgame interview with Charles, it’s easy to see why she has come this far.

After she dropped a career-high 36 points on Friday – and led her New York Liberty to a 93-89 win over the up-and-coming Dallas Wings – all Charles could think about was the mistakes.

“I wish I could have made more shots,” she said. “I feel like there were shots I usually make.”

That’s probably true: Charles did miss 10 of her 23 attempts. Nonetheless, it was a flawless performance in front of a raucous crowd at Madison Square Garden that hadn’t witnessed a home victory since opening night. The Liberty were coming off a 15-point loss to the Los Angeles Sparks at MSG and a defeat at Seattle the previous week.

Thus, Charles was ultra focused down the stretch of a tight game on Friday. The veteran forward had no idea she reached a new career high until it was flashed on the MSG jumbotron. She scored 11 of her 36 points in the fourth quarter, including a pair of free throws with 21 seconds left that proved to be the winning points.

“Those two free throws were really on my mind, versus the career high,” Charles said after the game. “I’m just happy I made those.”

Not only had her team lost two straight, but the Liberty also needed Charles to step up for personnel reasons. Already without starting point guard Brittany Boyd due to season-ending injury, New York will be without key veterans Epiphanny Prince and Kia Vaughn in the coming weeks as they play in EuroBasket Women 2017. Instead of Prince, it was recently-signed rookie Lindsay Allen that played crucial minutes in the backcourt on Friday. Bria Hartley made her first start as a member of the Liberty.

Charles wasn’t the Liberty’s only standout performer on Friday. Shavonte Zellous scored a season-high 27 points, Kiah Stokes tallied 13 points and a career-high 15 rebounds, and Hartley added 10 points. But New York’s leader set the tone early and closed the deal.

“It was a win we needed, and she willed us down the stretch and made some really big buckets,” Liberty coach Bill Laimbeer said of Charles. “But that’s what her job is. She’ll tell you the same thing if you ask her. Even though she had a career high, it’s just one ‘W’ in the season and there are more games to be had.”

Ironically, the shot that gave Charles her new career high was a three-pointer, which she never would have thought about attempting until as recently as last season. She nailed 35 percent from deep on 1.5 attempts per game in 2016 after never shooting more than five total three-pointers in a previous season.

Charles connected from downtown with less than three minutes left in a two-possession game on Friday. She’s now 6-for-12 on triples this season.

“Just trust the process,” Charles said of her jumper. “When I’m in practice, I’m working on threes. I’m there early trying to shoot on the (shooting) gun. So I have confidence when I take them. … I know I have Bill’s confidence in taking them. I try not to take them in those kinds of situations, but oh well. It went in.”

After a rough start in the opening week, Charles is back to being herself, leading the league in scoring for the second straight year at 21.5 points per game. Friday was her fourth consecutive game of 20-plus points.

In addition to the three-point shooting, Charles is 21-of-23 at the free throw line (91 percent) after shooting a career-high 81 percent at the line last year. Somehow, she could be headed for the most efficient season of her illustrious career.