NEW YORK LIBERTY PAST CHICAGO 86-82
The New York Liberty announced big win at the Chicago Sky (8-16) on Sunday afternoon at Allstate Arena. Tina Charles (15 points, 12 rebounds) and Kiah Stokes (10 points, 16 rebounds) both recorded double-doubles for the Liberty, who picked up consecutive road wins for the 1st time this season.
New York blew the game open with a 10-0 run to start the 2nd quarter. Powered by a strong 2nd unit, the Liberty outscored Chicago 17-2 to open the 2nd and take an 11-point lead. From there the Sky would recover and keep the margin to single digits the rest of the way. Chicago used back-to-back threes from Cappie Pondexter and Kahleah Copper to pull within one 65-64 in the 3rd but Sugar Rodgers answered with a 3 on the other end to push the Liberty advantage back to four, and the Sky were no closer than 2 the rest of the of the way.
New York continues its 5-game road trip at San Antonio on Tuesday night. Tipoff is scheduled for 8 PM (ET) at the AT&T Center.
New York Liberty notes
• New York picked up consecutive road victories for the 1st time this season and improved to 5-6 on the road
• New York has won 4-of-5 dating back to July 16
• The Liberty assisted on 8-of-9 field goals to start the game and finished with a season-high 25 assists as a team with 9 different players recording at least one assist
• Kiah Stokes scored 10 points and had 16 rebounds to post her 3rd double-double of the season; 2nd straight game with double-digit rebounds and also blocked 3 shots
• Tina Charles finished with 15 points to move past Crystal Robinson (2,301) for 4th place in Liberty history. Charles now has 2,312 points as a member of the Liberty
• Tina Charles posted her 11th double-double of the season with 15 points and 12 rebounds
• Liberty bench scored 17 points to start the 2nd quarter as the Liberty went on a 17-2 run, which included the 1st 10 points of the period
• New York finished with 26 points in the 2nd quarter for its highest 2nd quarter performance of the season
• Led by Sugar Rodgers (14) and Kiah Stokes (10) the Liberty bench finished with a season-high 42 points
• Sugar Rodgers finished with 14 points and hit 4 3-pointers, her highest 3-point tally since nailing five at Dallas on June 16
• Rebecca Allen matched her season-high of 8 points and hit a pair of 3-pointers
• New York improved to 11-6 when outrebounding an opponent (37-28 on Sunday)
• The Liberty improved to 11-4 when scoring more 2nd-chance points, holding a 15-2 edge against the Sky
• The Liberty is now 9-1 when holding a lead heading into the 4th quarter
Head Coach Bill Laimbeer
(On the message for the final minutes of the game…)
“Just play our solid defense, don’t give them any three ball looks. If we keep them in the interior, we have good length, we can bother their shots…obviously we have to score on the other end too. You know we just got the job done.”
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