Liberty peak late to knock off Mercury
Breanna Stewart scored |A|
21 points as the |B|
New York Liberty survived |C|
some sluggish moments on |D|
offense and pulled away |E|
down the stretch for |F|
an 84-70 victory over |G|
the host Phoenix Mercury |H|
on Monday night. The |J|
Liberty (26-5) won for |K|
the ninth time in |L|
10 games after seeing |M|
their eight-game winning streak |O|
end with Saturdays 72-64 |P|
setback against the Connecticut |Q|
Sun. New York also |R|
avoided losing consecutive games |S|
for the second time |U|
this season and moved |V|
three games ahead of |Y|
Connecticut in the race |Z|
for the WNBAs No. |A|
1 seed. Courtney Vandersloot |B|
added a season-best 16 |C|
points, including a 3-pointer |D|
and a 19-footer on |E|
back-to-back possessions for a |F|
64-55 lead early in |G|
the fourth, when New |H|
York began pulling away. |J|
|S| dir="ltr">Brittney Griner scored 12 |U| of her 22 points |V| in the fourth to |Y| lead all scorers, but |Z| Phoenix (16-15) committed 22 |A| turnovers for the game. |B| Natasha Cloud added 18 |C| points and Kahleah Copper |D| finished with 14 as |E| the Mercury shot 46.3 |F| percent from the floor |G| and scored 46 points |H| in the paint but |J| also went 5-for-22 from |K| 3-point range.
Stewart scored |L| 11 points in New |M| Yorks sluggish opening half |O| but contributed a 14-footer |P| during a 10-0, fourth-quarter |Q| run for the Liberty. |R| Ionescu added a floater |S| and a 3 during |U| the spurt, which turned |V| a 64-57 lead into |Y| a 74-57 advantage with |Z| 5:03 left in the |A| game.
Despite Ionescus baskets |B| seemingly securing the win, |C| Phoenix hung around and |D| trailed 75-68 after Griners |E| hook shot with 2:52 |F| remaining. New York locked |G| up the victory with |H| 95 seconds left when |J| Jones sank a jumper |K| from the foul line |L| for a 79-68 lead.
|M| dir="ltr">After entering halftime in |O| a 38-38 deadlock, the |P| Liberty grabbed a 50-45 |Q| edge on Ionescus pullup |R| jumper with 6:20 to |S| go in the third |U| quarter. New York expanded |V| its lead to 56-49 |Y| on two free throws |Z| by Stewart with 2:47 |A| left and held a |B| 59-53 lead heading into |C| the fourth.
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