Plenette Pierson leads as New York Liberty cruise past Atlanta Dream 85-75 – WNBA Recap
Plenette Pierson scored a team-high 20 points, grabbed eight rebounds, dished out three assists and blocked two shots as New York Liberty beat Atlanta Dream 85-75 on Tuesday night at Philips Arena. It was the second consecutive
defeat of Atlanta at the end of their five-game winning streak.
Pierson shot 9 for 16 from the field in more than 34 minutes of action. Cappie Pondexter added 16 points, five assists, five rebounds and two blocks for Liberty, who have won three of their previous five games. Nicole Powell had
13 points and six rebounds while Leilani Mitchell scored all of her 12 points in the fourth quarter, pinning four 3-pointers, and dished out six assists in the victory.
Angel McCoughtry topped all scorers with 24 points, six rebounds and three steals in the losing effort. McCoughtry, who has been named player of the week for the previous two weeks, shot 8 for 18 from the field and 8 for 12 from
free throw line. Lindsey Harding had 14 points, game best nine assists and three rebounds while Erika de Souza totalled 11 points for Dream, who have lost four of their previous ten games.
New York shot 47.1 percent (32 for 68) from the floor, including 57.9 (11 for 19) from three-point range, and 76.9 percent (10 for 13) from free throw line. Atlanta shot just 44.9 percent (31 for 69) from the field and 59.1 percent
(13 for 22) from the line. Dream missed all of their six shots from down town. In addition to a better shooting, the Liberty outscored Atlanta 42-32 in points in the paint.
New York held a 17-13 with 01:50 to go in the first quarter before Atlanta went on a 7-2 run, to take a 20-19 lead into the second frame. Liberty limited Atlanta to 20 points in the second quarter and carried a 46-40 advantage
at halftime.
Trailing by six points after two quarters, Atlanta fought hard in the third quarter and trimmed Liberty’s lead to two, 63-61, with 34 seconds to go in the quarter. However, Montgomery hit 2 free throws to put New York ahead by
65-61, heading into the fourth.
In the fourth quarter, New York stretched their lead to seven points, 75-68, with 05:26 left in the game, but Atlanta scored four consecutive points to make it three-point contest. Vaughn then hit a free throw and Mitchell played
a shot from down town, stretching New York’s lead back to seven points, 79-72 and` Liberty did not trail for rest of the period.
With this victory, the Liberty are just a game behind second-place Connecticut Sun and are two and half games behind first-place Indiana Fever in the Eastern Conference. The defending conference champion, on the other hand, fell
one-half game behind Chicago Sky in a battle to clinch fourth position in the East before the playoffs.
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