Notes and Quotes: Connecticut survives Indiana, New York gets road win in Atlanta

Connecticut 88, Indiana 85

Game Notes

• Connecticut improves to 9-2 on the season, and leads the Eastern Conference. The Sun are 6-2 at home and a perfect 8-0 in conference play.
• This was the first time Connecticut played overtime this season. They last played overtime on August 19, 2011, losing 94-88 at Atlanta. They were 1-3 in overtime games last year.
• Connecticut opened up an 11-2 lead through the first 3:36. All five starters recorded a basket in that stretch.
• Kara Lawson recorded her 700th career rebound at the 2:33 mark of the first quarter. She finished the game with four and now stands at 702 overall.
• Kara Lawson scored a season high 22 points in the win. Her previous high was 21 points, vs. Atlanta on June 10.
• Tina Charles recorded her 900th rebound at 5:05 of the fourth quarter. She entered the game with 893 and now stands at 901. She is the fastest player in WNBA history to reach 900 rebounds, doing so in 79 games. Yolanda Griffith was the previous fastest player to 900, getting there in 83 games.
• Tina Charles extended her double digit scoring streak to 23 games after scoring 14 points. Her streak dates back to August 13, 2011 vs. Washington.
• Allison Hightower had a career high six rebounds, and also had 10 points, the third time this season and the second time in three games she has scored in double figures.
• Kalana Greene was 5 of 5 from the field tonight. She is the second Sun player this season to make at least five field goals without a miss. Mistie Mims was 6 of 6 from the field at Indiana (6/8). The team record for most made field goals without a miss was seven – by Taj McWilliams-Franklin at Washington (7/21/00). Greene scored a season high 12 points in today’s game. Her previous season high was seven, accomplished twice already.
• After being down as many as 12, Indiana took their first lead of the game at 2:27 of the third quarter when Erin Phillips hit a three-pointer to make the score 57-55. They never led by more than two points.
• Five Indiana players scored in double figures led by Katie Douglas with 23, Tamika Catchings with 14, Briann January with 12, Erin Phillips with 11 and Jessica Davenport with 10.It is the first time an opponent has done that against the Sun since August 30, 2011 (San Antonio).
• With her 10 points, Jessica Davenport eclipsed the 1,000 mark for her career. She entered with 991 points and currently stands at 1,001.
• Katie Douglas tied a season high in points with 23. She recorded the same total in the June 8 matchup vs. the Sun.

New York 73, Atlanta 60

Game Notes

Atlanta

• Atlanta dropped to 4-7 on the season, including a 4-4 home record.
• Atlanta played without the league’s leading scorer, Angel McCoughtry, for the second straight game. McCoughtry is recovering from a sprained left MCL.
• After shooting 40.6 percent in the first half (13-of-32), the Dream shot just 30.6 percent (11-of-36 in the second half.
• Atlanta outrebounded New York 38-28. The Dream grabbed 15 offensive rebounds but had just eight second-chance points.
• Sancho Lyttle had her second double-double of the season, finishing with 13 points, including 10 in the second half, and a season-high 13 rebounds. She has now scored in double figures in four straight games.
• Lindsey Harding shared the team scoring lead with 13 points, including 10 in the first half. It marked her ninth double-digit scoring performance of the season and third in a row.
• Armintie Price led the team in assists for the second straight game with five, and added seven points and five rebounds.
• Cathrine Kraayeveld had her second game off the bench with multiple three-pointers, sinking two while finishing with nine points.

New York

• New York improved to 4-7, including a 2-4 record on the road.
• The Liberty took control of the game with a 10-0 run that spanned the third and fourth quarters, pushing a 52-49 lead to 62-49. Atlanta never got closer than seven the rest of the way.
• New York shot 50.8 percent from the field, hitting 31-of-61 shots. It was the Liberty’s first time shooting better than 50 percent this season.
• Four of New York’s five starters scored in double figures.
• Cappie Pondexter led New York by posting a double-double with 14 points and a season-high 13 assists, while also grabbing a team-high six rebounds. Her previous season high for assists had been four.
• Leilani Mitchell contributed 10 points and had a season-high six assists. Her previous season high for assists of five also came against Atlanta on May 25.
• Essence Carson reached double figures for the fourth straight game, finishing with 14 points.
• Kia Vaughn chipped in 12 points and five rebounds for the Liberty.
• New York had 23 assists on its 31 baskets.

Quotes

Atlanta Dream Head Coach Marynell Meadors

On today’s performance
“We just played a poor game. We just played so disconnected at times and had some injuries that really hurt us. We allowed them to take open shots and they knocked them down. They’re a good team. I don’t know how they got to be 3-7, but maybe they’ve gotten things together. We gave them open looks and they knocked them down. We just didn’t knock our shots down.”

On missing too many layups…
“You have to make layups. I thought we did better going to the offensive boards but we’d rebound and we wouldn’t put the shots down. We have to make shots.”

On Cathrine Kraayeveld’s play…
“She played well. I was really pleased with her. I thought she came in and gave us some great minutes. I thought Jess Moore came in and gave us some really good minutes also. It was a good time to get her in and try to get her game legs under her a little bit.”

On the plan going forward…
“We’ll get back to practice and work things out and go from there.”

New York Liberty Head Coach John Whisenant

On today’s performance
“Our goal is to hold them to 15 points a quarter, and we pretty much did that tonight. That’s the kind of team we are. We don’t have enough offense weaponry to go one-on-one. We have to live off of Cappie (Pondexter). Cappie’s 13 assists created us a lot of shots. Our wins this year have been results of our multiple assists and defensive play. We still have holes rebounding.”

On Cappie’s performance
“Cappie is an excellent player. And when she plays like she did tonight, and we play good team defense, we can compete and win games on the road. So it’s a lot of burden to bear for her, because she is the one player on our team who has to play up on our team. We demand she does her part on defense as well as on offense. We don’t have any other options. She has to perform for the Liberty to do well. It is just that simple.”

On the bench’s play
“We played everybody. The only way they can learn to play is to throw their feet in there. We need to do that and then feed off of Cappie. But we do need to learn how to rebound better.”

On last time played in Atlanta vs tonight’s play
“We got Angel (McCoughtry) to not suit up. That helped some. But all together it is just a matter of our will against theirs. Atlanta is a force. When they get to running they are tough. There is a reason they are a finalist the past two years. We were just able to limit them to get only very few runs. When we can make them slow down and play against our defense, that’s our advantage. But if Atlanta is running, it’s their advantage.”