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Becky Hammon delivers a clutch performance in first home win

Jun 05, 2005

BOX SCORE

NEW YORK (AP) -- After squandering a big lead in their last game, the New York Liberty were determined to make up for their poor play.

Becky Hammon scored eight points in the final 3:05 to lead the Liberty to a 61-58 victory Sunday over the Washington Mystics.

New York had a 13-point lead at Detroit on Friday night before losing 68-66 in overtime.

"We knew we had to come in here and get one," Hammon said. "Everybody took that Detroit loss hard. It was one that we felt got away from us. We didn't want to let that happen tonight. We wanted the win badly."

Hammon and Shameka Christon scored 13 points apiece, Vickie Johnson had 11 and Crystal Robinson added 10 points and nine rebounds to lead the Liberty (2-3).

DeLisha Milton-Jones had a season-high 21 points, Alana Beard scored 12 and Temeka Johnson added 10 for Washington (2-4).

Charlotte Smith-Taylor hit a 3-pointer for the Mystics to tie the score at 50 with 3:27 remaining. But Hammon hit a 3 from the left corner 22 seconds later and then made two free throws to push New York's lead back up to five with 2:15 left.

Laurie Koehn pulled the Mystics within 59-58 with 18.3 seconds left before Robinson hit a pair of free throws to push New York's lead to three.

Tamara Moore scrambles for a loose ball in the second half. (AP)

Washington missed three chances to score in the final 8 seconds. Beard drove to the basket and missed a layup, Milton-Jones got the rebound and missed her putback. The ball was knocked to Coco Miller, who found Koehn on the perimeter. But her potential tying 3 bounced high off the rim and time ran out on the Mystics.

"I was really worried about this game," New York coach Pat Coyle said. "I was worried about us being flat. We should have won that game the other night."

The Liberty's win spoiled Washington coach Richie Adubato's return to New York. Adubato was fired as Liberty coach last July after 5 1/2 seasons, leading the team to three WNBA Finals appearances.

Adubato was greeted with an ovation when he stepped on the court and headed to the Mystics bench before the game.

"I appreciated that," he said. "You appreciate if people know we gave them five really good years of basketball. We gave them hustle. We gave them energy. We gave them enthusiasm. We got three (Eastern Conference championship) banners hanging up. I think they all appreciate that.

"Coming back here is always a great experience for me because I have some fond memories. There is no place like Madison Square Garden to coach and play basketball."

The Mystics opened the second half with a 5-1 run to take their biggest lead of the game at 36-25 with about 16 minutes remaining. The Liberty then went on a 14-0 run to take a three-point lead, with Christon scoring all nine of her second-half points during the run.

"I didn't want to rush or take any shots that were not within our offense," Christon said. "I took pretty much what the defense was giving me."

New York beat Washington for the third straight time - including the Liberty's only two wins this season. New York won at Washington, 77-68, on Wednesday.

After shooting poorly at the start, New York finished at 40 percent (20-for-50) from the field. Washington, shooting 46 percent on the season entering the game, made just 36 percent (20-for-56).

"The major reason we lost was because of our lack of execution," Milton-Jones said. "We did some things very uncharacteristic of what Richie wanted us to do."

The Liberty also outrebounded the Mystics 35-22. New York had the advantage on the boards on Wednesday as well, and the Mystics are the only team the Liberty have outrebounded this season.

Elena Baranova, among the league's top 3-point shooters last year at 46 percent (53-for-115), missed both her attempts and dropped to 0-for-9 on the season. She had two points on 1-for-4 shooting in 17 minutes.

Washington led 31-24 at halftime, closing the period on a 22-9 run over the final 8:38.

The Liberty missed 13 of their first 16 shots over the opening 7 1/2 minutes. The Mystics were 4-for-8 during the same stretch and led 9-7.

New York then scored eight straight points over the next 2:08 and opened its biggest lead of the half at 15-9 with just over 10 minutes left.