Cappie Pondexter pulls off a mammoth night to lead New York Liberty to victory over Los Angeles Sparks – WNBA Recap
Cappie Pondexter scored a game high 21 points, 12 rebounds and 8 assists in a memorable performance and led the New York Liberty to a narrow 73-71 victory over the Los Angeles Sparks here at the Prudential Center on Sunday night.
Pondexter was assisted by Plenette Pierson, who scored 17 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 blocks for the game.
Kristi Toliver scored a team-high 17 points, 4 rebounds and 4 assists as she led a valiant effort by her team to prevent New York from running away with the victory.
Los Angeles ran away with the lead late in the first quarter after both teams started off the game tied neck to neck. They went on an 11-3 run late in the period to finish the first quarter leading 27-17.
Los Angeles kept the momentum alive in the second period, scoring at will and maintaining a comfortable lead over New York for most of the quarter, even though New York worked hard to score points and cut into the Los Angeles lead.
The Sparks led 48-36 at halftime.
A three point play by Essence Carson in the third period cut the Sparks lead to 52-47 with a little more than 6 minutes left in the period. Carson later nailed a pull up jump shot to tie the game at 55, and the Liberty then scored
the final four points of the period to take a 59-55 lead going into the final quarter.
April Sykes gave the lead back to the Sparks with a clutch three point shot, putting Los Angeles on top 65-63. Carson tied the game for New York at 70 with a clutch three point shot with 48 seconds left in the game. Pondexter then
scored three free throws and the Liberty took the game away from the Sparks for a 73-71 victory.
Carson finished with 14 points, 4 rebounds and 3 steals for the night for New York. Candace Parker scored 14 points and 15 rebounds for Los Angeles; where as Nneka Ogwumike had 13 points and 5 rebounds.
Both teams shot mediocre from the field, and Los Angeles had a 43-35 advantage over New York in rebounds. However, it all came down to the final few minutes of the game and New York came up with some big plays in those few minutes
which changed the game.
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