Epiphanny Prince delivers as
Chicago Sky thump New York Liberty 73-64: WNBA Recap
Epiphanny Prince had 26 points to lead the Chicago Sky past the New York Liberty for a 73-64 victory here at the Prudential Center on Sunday night.
The performance by the WNBA’s scoring leader helped Chicago improve their record to 6-1, their best start to the season in franchise history.
`She's one of the five best players in the league right now. But today, she just looked comfortable out there. It's part of her maturation. That's the Epiphanny Prince everyone has come to know. She opens things
up for others and makes special plays. She's just a special player,” said Chicago coach Pokey Chatman.
Cappie Pondexter had a team high 22 points, 6 rebounds and 7 assists for the New York Liberty, who slid down to a 3-6 record after winning three games in a row.
Chicago raced away with the lead early in the 1st quarter and back to back jump shots by Tamera Young had them up 19-11 with only 1:12 left in the game. Nicole Powell scored a three pointer for Liberty
with less than a minute to go and Chicago finished the 1st period leading 19-14.
Sky then opened the 2nd period with a 6-0 run as they looked to take control of the game. The run extended their lead to 25-14, as New York missed their first three shots of the period and went scoreless
for the first 2 minutes.
However, Pondexter had a dominant run in the middle of the 2nd period that single handedly changed the momentum of the game. Pondexter went on a personal 8-0 charge that had Chicago’s lead reduced
to only 3 points.
Chicago once again came back with a 10-0 run to extend their lead to 35-22, and led 38-27 at halftime.
Prince scored the first 5 points of the final period to give Chicago a 61-45 lead. They held on to that lead throughout the rest of the game and won comfortably in the end. The final scores were 73-64 to Chicago.
New York had good offense in the final period and scored on some good possessions but could not stop the Sky from scoring and their slump in the third quarter was what made the difference in the end.
Young finished with 12 points and 7 rebounds coming off the bench for Chicago. Sylvia Fowles added 10 points and 12 rebounds for the Sky. Kia Vaughn had 16 points and 6 rebounds for New York and Essence Carson
finished with 10 points and 6 rebounds.
Chicago shot better from the field, going 43.9% from the field and 5 of 15 from the distance. New York, in comparison, shot 38.5% from the field and 5 of 16 from the distance. They had 40 rebounds compared to
29 for New York and also committed 4 fewer turnovers than the Liberty at 10.
“I was nervous about this game because it was our fifth game in eight days,” said Liberty coach John Whisenant.
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