Cappie Pondexter leads New York Liberty to a 74-70 victory over Phoenix Mercury – WNBA Recap
On Tuesday night at US Airways Center, Cappie Pondexter tallied 17 of her game high 25 points in the last quarter, as New York Liberty rallied back for a hard-fought 74-70 victory over Phoenix Mercury. Despite losing the game and
having their two game winning streak snapped, Mercury are still half game ahead of the Seattle Storm for the second position in the Western Conference.
Pondexter, who is averaging 18.3 points and 4.5 assists per game so far in this season, also grabbed a team best eight rebounds and stole the ball for three times in more than 32 minutes. The 28-year-old guard went 9 for 20 from
the field and 5 for 6 from free throw line.
Nicole Powell also put in a decent performance for Liberty, finishing the game with 16 points on 6 for 12 shooting from the floor, four steals, three rebounds and two assists. Plenette Pierson had 10 points, seven rebounds, five
assists and three steals while Kia Vaughn also scored 10 points and pulled down five rebounds for New York, who bounced back from a one-point defeat to the Seattle Strom last night.
Candice Dupree led Phoenix with 17 points and seven rebounds while Penny Taylor added 14 points, game best nine rebounds, four steals and four assists in the defeat. Alexis Gray-Lawson also came off the bench with 11 points and
six rebounds for Mercury.
Defence was also a big part of the Liberty’s win on the night. They held Phoenix to 38.8 percent shooting (26 for 67) from the field and a horrific 18.2 percent (4 for 22) from beyond the arc. New York themselves finished with
40.0 percent (28 for 70) shooting from the floor and 85.7 percent (12 for 14) from free throw line. Mercury committed 19 turnovers as compared to just 13 by the visiting team.
Phoenix, who are 9-5 at home this season, got off to a solid start and carried a 6-2 lead early. New York found their groove though and scored 14 consecutive points to go ahead by ten points, 16-6, with 02:03 to go in the opening
period. Ferdinand-Harris drove to the rim to trim the margin to eight-points, 16-8, but Powell answered with a jumper to push Liberty’s lead back to ten points, 18-8, heading into the second period.
In the second quarter, Mercury fought back, limiting Phoenix to 12 points only and converted the first period’s deficit into one-point lead, 31-30, at halftime. New York regained the control of the game in the third quarter and
went ahead by 49-45 deep into the frame. They choked at the end of the period though as Dupree scored two consecutive lay-ups and Swanier followed with a three to give Phoenix a 52-49 lead heading into the fourth.
Mercury pushed their lead to 59-51 early in the fourth quarter but Liberty responded with a 22-8 spurt to carry a 73-67 lead with two minutes remaining in the game. Phoenix scored the next three points and cut the deficit to three,
73-70, but it was too little too late as Pondexter sealed the victory with a free throw.
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