Cappie Pondexter stars as New York Liberty beat Washington Mystics, 75-71 – WNBA Recap
On Friday night, New York Liberty cruised past the Washington Mystics 75-71 at Prudential Center. With this victory, Liberty now trail the Connecticut Sun by half game for the second spot in the WNBA's Eastern Conference. On the
other hand, it was the fourth straight loss of the Mystics.
New York’s guard Cappie Pondexter topped all the scorers with 19 points and four assists. Kia Vaughn tallied 14 points, including the go-ahead layup with 54 seconds to go in the fourth quarter, and pulled down three rebounds for
Liberty, who have won three of their previous five games. Plenette Pierson ended with 13 points, four assists, four rebounds, three steals and two blocks in the victory.
Crystal Langhorne led Washington with 18 points and nine rebounds. Langhorne shot 8 for 13 from the field. Guard Kelly Miller scored 17 points on 7 for 9 shooting from the floor, including 2 for 3 from three-point range. Marissa
Coleman had 13 points, six rebounds, three assists and three steals in the loss.
The Mystics shot 50.9 percent (29 for 57) from the field as compared to just 47.6 (30 for 63) Liberty. Washington played well throughout the game, but just choked in the clutch.
Mystics coach Trudi Lacey said, "We did not get a couple of stops, where we needed them, and that was the difference in the game."
Washington held a 16-9 lead with 02:28 to go in the first quarter, before New York scored seven unanswered points to knot the game at 16, heading into the second.
Mystics scored the first eight points of the second quarter and stretched their lead to 24-16. In the ensuing passage, Montgomery drove to the rim and Pondexter pinned two consecutive three-pointers and a jumper to put New York
ahead by 26-24. Mystics answered with 6-2 run and went ahead by 30-28 with 04:36 remaining in the second however Liberty then scored the next four points to take a 32-30 advantage.
Washington responded though and scored the last six points of the quarter to carry a 36-32 lead at halftime. Mystics widened their lead to seven points, 56-49, with 01:30 to go in the third quarter. Liberty however scored four
unanswered points in the last 38 seconds of the third to cut the deficit to three at the end of the quarter.
Both teams played exceptionally well in the first eight minutes of the fourth quarter as Washington held a 71-70 lead with 01:15 to go in the contest. Liberty turned it on at that point and scored five straight points in the last
54 seconds to seal the victory.
Washington’s top scorer Langhorne said of their close defeat, "It is tough because it is another game we just kind of blew away," "We are in the game and we don't get back when we need to and we lose.”
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