Plenette Pierson leads New York Liberty to a 94-88 overtime victory over Atlanta Dream – WNBA Recap
Forward centre Plenette Pierson had a game-high 25 points and 10 rebounds as the New York Liberty beat the Atlanta Dream 94-88 in overtime on Sunday night at Philips Arena. The game was a rematch of the previous year's Eastern
Conference finals, where Atlanta swept New York to reach the Woman National Basketball (WNBA) finals for the first time.
Liberty’s Sidney Spencer played for only five minutes late in the game, but she was the one who ultimately took the game into O.T. With just 0.2 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter, Spencer got an open look and buried a ten
footer to tie the game at 79. Liberty just took over the game after that and carved out a six point win.
Forward Nicole Powell finished with 17 points, six assists, and six rebounds while Guard Leilani Mitchell came off the bench with 13 points in the victory. Cappie Pondexter notched up 12 points and a game-high 11 assists while
Essence Carson punctuated 11 points for Liberty.
Forward Sancho Lyttle led the defending Eastern Conference champion Atlanta Dream in the defeat with 18 points, 11 rebounds, five assists, and four steals. Iziane Castro Marques added 19 points while Coco Miller and Armintie Price
scored 16 and 13 points respectively.
Atlanta were without their ace player, Angel McCoughtry, who did not play the game because of left knee injury. Atlanta coach Marynell Meadors acknowledged after the game that McCoughtry’s absence played its role in their defeat
and said, "Angel brings so much to our game," "When you take away 25 or 30 points, it affects the rest of the team."
Liberty got off to a fast start and carried a 9-5 lead early in the first quarter. Atlanta fought hard and cut the deficit to two, 9-11, with 05:17 to go in the first. New York continued to play an up tempo game and widened its
lead to 20-14. Dream bounced back though and scored the last five points of the quarter to show only one down after 12 minutes.
Liberty again made a strong start in the second quarter and raced to a 30-24 lead. With a little more than four minutes left in the second, Atlanta made their charge and scored nine unanswered point to take a 33-32 lead. New York
however went on a 4-0 run in the last 53 seconds of the quarter to carry a 40-38 lead into the second.
Both teams played a very close game during the entire third quarter and tied the game at 60, heading into the final stanza. In a closely contested fourth quarter, Atlanta held a 79-77 lead with three ticks to go in the game. With
the clock winding down, the ball found its way into the hands of Spencer, who wound up with an open 10-footer on the baseline, forcing the game into overtime.
New York reeled off a 10-4 run early in the O.T. and romped to an 89-83 lead. Harding hit a jump shot for Dream to cut the deficit to four points with 22 seconds to go. However when Pondexter hit a pair of free throws on the next
possession to make it 94-88.
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