Balanced effort by Liberty in victory over Stars, 84-68
Four New York Liberty players scored in double digits as the team beat San Antonio, 84-68, during Camp Day Wednesday afternoon at Madison Square Garden. With the win New York improved to 3-1 against the West this season. It was their first win over the Stars since July 8, 2011, snapping a six-game losing streak.
Before a crowd of 18,617, the Liberty (8-5) put on a show from start to finish, eventually cruising to its largest margin of victory this year. It was the sixth-largest largest crowd to ever watch the Liberty play at The Garden and the most since August 11, 2002.
Essence Carson came off the bench to pour in a season-high 16 points on 7-of-12 shooting from the field. Tina Charles, fresh off being voted a starter for the 2015 WNBA All-Star game, had 14 points, 11 of those in the first half, and grabbed six boards.
Epiphanny Prince made her season debut at Madison Square Garden in style, with 13 points, five assists and four rebounds and Sugar Rodgers also added 13 with five assists.
The Liberty led by as many as 20 points and all 11 players that saw action recorded at least one field goal. The Liberty reserves outscored San Antonio’s 45-23.
For the Stars (3-11), Danielle Robinson finished with a game high 18 points. Sophia Young-Malcolm scored 11 points and pulled down five rebounds. Danielle Adams also had 11 points while rookie Dearica Hamby finished with 10 points and six rebounds.
New York returns to action Thursday night to host the Connecticut Sun. San Antonio heads home to host Tulsa on Friday.
Notes
- Carolyn Swords made her first start of the season and her first WNBA start since 2013, finishing with eight points and four rebounds in 21 minutes.
- Essence Carson was not in the starting lineup for the first time this year, and scored a season-high 16 points
- Epiphanny Prince made her Madison Square Garden debut as a member of the Liberty after being acquired in an offseason trade. She started her second game and finished with 13 points, which is her average through three games with New York, scoring in double figures in each game.
- With the win New York improved to 3-1 against the West this season and it was the first win over the Stars since July 8, 2011, snapping a six-game losing streak.
- New York is now 5-2 at Madison Square Garden this season.
Quotes
New York Liberty
Head Coach Bill Laimbeer
On league statistical rankings
“We’re number one in the league with points in the paint. If you look at the statistics we’re like a plus 17. That is pretty phenomenal and we take great pride in that.”
On Epiphanny Prince
“I think our scoring and our shooting will be a big lift with Epiphanny Prince in the game. She is a solid guard and she is a quiet assassin. She’ll make a lot of big shots. She is struggling in her shot but still making double-digit points for us, which is pretty good. When she starts finding her range and when she gets hot, you’ll know it. I mean the net doesn’t move and the ball will go right through all of the time. She was a quality pickup for us. We have a good solid depth to our basketball team and she ‘s one to account for that.”
On the two-game home stand
“We got a couple road games to stare in the face. These two home games are very important to us. We took care of business on the first one and we were expected to do that and we broke the game open. We were then able to rest our players. We have some nagging injuries like bumps and bruises here and there. Essence Carson sat out practice yesterday from the nagging foot injury and today she came in and played phenomenal. So we’ll go through it. We have one more home game and then four more on the road. We know where we are at right now. We are tied for first and our future looks good.”
Epiphanny Prince
Whether NY basketball influenced her “drive-to-the-basket” playing style
“Definitely. I grew up watching guys like Sebastian Telfair, Edgar Sosa, Corey Fisher and learning their moves because those were the best players in the city. I’m not the fastest player so learning to incorporate their change of pace / stop-and-go basketball helped me a lot.”
On integrating back into the team
“We have so many plays so I’ve had to work hard because I never want to be a liability out there due to not knowing the play that is called. [However], the way our team is set-up chemistry-wise [with our ability to play off of each other] it makes all the other [adjustments] easy. I just need to lock down the plays.”
Essence Carson
On the offensive efficiency with Epiphanny back
“Definitely more balanced on offense. Playing with her in college, I know that she is a great passer and will be able to create for herself and others. It spreads the floor and makes the game easy”
On positive W/L record heading into All-Star
“It feels good but we know our job isn’t done. The chemistry is a lot better. We’re on a mission but we’ve got a lot of work left to do.”
San Antonio Stars
San Antonio Stars Head Coach Dan Hughes
On Overall Performance
“We didn’t defend consistently. We had pockets where we defended and did some things, if we had been able to be rely on our defense a little stronger it would have helped us.”
In Regards to New York Liberty’s overall identity compared to teams in the past
“They play to Tina Charles better, I think she is a factor in the paint from a bigger standpoint. I think they are more solid. I think Tanisha Wright’s leadership has helped them. They have also been able to find success early, so they do not doubt themselves. I like the way Tina Charles is playing and Tanisha Wright has just given them a confidence to be solid.”
On injuries
“We knew we were going to be young, but we did not know we were going to be injured. You take your two leading scorers (Kayla McBride and Jia Perkins), and never have had Alex Montgomery this season. We thought that we would have a chance about 10 -15 games in to kind of take a young core and move it to a certain spot, but the problem has obviously been injuries has gotten in the way of developing that core.”
Danielle Robinson
On what needs to improve to turn the season around
“I think we’re playing hard. We just need to get in a rhythm. We’ve got some injuries, so getting our (injured) players healthy is a priority”
On balanced Liberty scoring
“They’ve got their full squad now and they have really good chemistry. They’ve got a ton of scorers but the rebounding hurt us tonight because it lead to too many second chance points. We just need to work on some things when we get back home so we can get two (2) wins before the All-Star break.
By the Numbers
Points in the Paint: Stars 26, Liberty 38
Second Chance Points: Stars 10, Liberty 18
Fastbreak Points: Stars 8, Liberty 14
Biggest Lead: Stars 0, Liberty 20
Lead Changes: 0
Times Tied: 4
