Chicago Sky keep their playoff hopes alive; Defeat New York Liberty to stay in contention for a playoff berth….
Epiphanny Prince on her return to the Big Apple racked up 30 points as she led Chicago Sky to a 92-83 win over New York Liberty on Saturday night at the Prudential Center.
The win puts Chicago in a good position as both teams are currently battling each other for the fourth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. Prince shot the ball 8 of 18 from the field and was perfect from the free
throw line the game to help the Chicago cause.
“We have to do it as a team, not just me,'' Prince said. ``We put ourselves in this situation and we got to be able to just play one game at a time. This was a big win for us because now we can be on top of New York if we end up
in a tie with them.''
While Prince managed her way to a 30 point performance for the fourth time in 19 games, three other players also had a good game as they ended the night with double figure scores.
Tamera Young recorded 19 while shooting the ball 8 off 11 from the field. Courtney Vandersloot chipped in with 12 points while Swin Cash collected 10 points and 7 rebounds.
At the other end, Cappie Pondexter led the scoring with 24 points while Kara Braxton notched up a double-double performance of 13 points and 11 rebounds.
Plenette Pierson and Essence Carson also made strong contributions by adding 15 and 12 points respectively.
On the whole, the main thing which worked in favour of Chicago was their ability to make the most of their chances. They shot the ball 50.8% from the field and went 20 of 21 from the stripe.
While from the other side, Liberty seemed to be struggling against Chicago’s half court defence which led to their poor start to the game as 7 of their 16 turnovers came in the first half alone.
Relying on their defence to do most of their work, Chicago came out racing holding a 10-2 lead – an advantage they held for the entire first half.
New York did offer some resistance late in the second quarter as they put together a 9-0 run to cut the deficit to three points.
However, that was as close as they got in the game, as Prince made a layup to give Chicago a 5 point advantage heading into the break. Chicago scored 4 quick points to the second half but New York, were again able to find their
way back into the game with 4:04 remaining in the third quarter.
That was the last time they were given a chance by Chicago to bounce back. Sky closed the frame strongly to seal the win.
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