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Liberty Defense And Depth Overpower Mystics
Posted Friday, July 18, 2008
 Ashley Battle scored a game-high 15 points off the Liberty bench. Photo by Noam Galai.
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NEW YORK - From top to bottom of the roster, it is clear the New York Liberty have depth. With 45 points off their bench, the Liberty defeated the Washington Mystics 77-56 on Thursday night at Madison Square Garden.
“I thought our bench did a terrific job tonight,” Liberty head coach Patty Coyle said. “I’ve been saying it all year, I think one of our strengths is our bench. I feel confident putting any of them in there.”
New York and Washington battled it out early and played a somewhat balanced first quarter that saw six ties and two lead changes. Although the Liberty were unable to set the tone offensively, their effort on defense kept things close in the period. After knotting the score at 14, the Liberty went on a 9-3 run to end the quarter.
The Liberty looked to set the tone in the second period, taking a nine-point lead in the opening minutes. Washington made every effort to catch up and got to within five points midway through the quarter. New York answered the Mystics attempt to slice the deficit and extended the lead to ten points with a jump shot by Erin Thorn and a 3-pointer by Cathrine Kraayeveld. At the end of the first half, the Liberty led the Mystics 43-32.
New York opened the second half with some tentativeness, allowing Washington to go on a 7-0 run. The Mystics continued to chip away at the Liberty lead, cutting it to three with a layup from Nakia Sanford. Washington was unable to get any closer after that point as the Liberty began to turn things around offensively. Janel McCarville, Leilani Mitchell and Ashley Battle led the offensive push, scoring a combined 10 points during a 15-1 run going into the final period.
The Liberty showcased their depth in the fourth quarter with phenomenal play from their bench. Aggressive on defense, New York held the Mystics to 11 points during the final frame. Battle provided the intensity on offense, scoring nine of her game-high 15 points during the period, leading the Liberty to their third consecutive victory.
“I just tried to take advantage of the holes,” Battle said. “I got some easy layups and open shots. That’s basically how it went.”
Alana Beard led all Mystics scorers with 15 points, five rebounds and six assists. Taj McWilliams-Franklin and Nakia Sanford netted 12 and 9 points respectively and came down with nine rebounds apiece.
McCarville notched 12 points and grabbed six boards for the Liberty. Mitchell and Lisa Willis added 8 points apiece, with Mitchell dishing out six assists.
Shameka Christon contributed 10 points, three rebounds and handed out three assists.
“Washington is a team that has been playing quite well as of late,” she said. “It was important for us to get the early lead.”
The Liberty will now prepare for the first outdoor game in WNBA history, hosting the Indiana Fever at Arthur Ashe Stadium on Saturday, July 19 at 7:30 pm ET. The game will be televised locally on the MSG network and nationally on NBA-TV. Additionally, the game will be streamed on NYLiberty.com.
The Mystics head back to Washington for a matchup against the Detroit Shock on Friday at 7:00 pm ET.
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