Coming into Saturday’s game against the Phoenix Mercury, Tina Charles was 18 points away from joining the 4,000 point club. With her average for the season sitting at 21.1, it seemed likely she would hit the mark late in the game, but it wasn’t a foregone conclusion.

Well, that is until Charles came out and dropped 14 points in the first quarter, equaling the Mercury’s output as a team, and helping stake the Liberty to a 29-14 lead. After that early outburst, it was only a matter of time before Charles eclipsed 4,000 points. And she didn’t make those in Madison Square Garden wait long.

Late in the second quarter, Charles caught a pass in the mid-post, took one rhythm dribble, dipped her shoulder to the baseline, then turned toward the paint and shot up and over Candice Dupree. Despite a foul from the Mercury forward, the ball rattled down and through the net, giving Charles 19 points in the game, and 4,001 for her career.

When the final buzzer sounded, Charles had 23 points and 15 rebounds to her name, and the Liberty had a 92-70 victory. The 23 points moved Charles into 28th place on the all-time scoring list, and the victory moved the Liberty closer to clinching at least the third seed in the playoffs.

In classic Charles fashion, the Liberty’s success was more important to her than individual accolades. When asked if joining the 4,000 point club did anything for her, she was direct and to the point. “No. No it doesn’t,” she said.

“But clinching the third seed, making my teammates better–the game everyone had tonight, everyone had a moment–that does everything for me,” Charles continued.

Charles’ selfless attitude, along with her MVP-caliber performance this year is one of the main reasons the Liberty have won 20 games for just the fifth time in team history, and have a chance to match last year’s franchise-best 23 wins.

But all of that, along with personal successes like point totals, will be worthless without postseason success–specifically a championship. That’s what the Liberty are working towards, and more performances like tonight’s from Tina Charles will go a long way into making that happen.