Liberty beat Sparks 88-79 for 4th win in 5 games
NEW YORK — The New York Liberty are showing how far they’ve improved this season.
Cappie Pondexter scored 20 points and the Liberty beat the struggling Los Angeles Sparks 88-79 Friday night.
Janel McCarville had 15 points, Taj McWilliams-Franklin added 14 points and nine rebounds and Plenette Pierson also scored 14 to help New York (13-11) win for the fourth time in five games.
“I do feel like at the beginning of the season we would’ve lost this game,” McWilliams-Franklin said. “But now we’re pushing through.”
The Liberty also moved into a tie with Connecticut for fourth place in the Eastern Conference, three games behind first-place Indiana.
Tina Thompson scored 18 points and Marie Ferdinand-Harris added 17 for Los Angeles (8-17), which snapped a two-game winning streak.
New York capitalized on the Sparks’ mistakes and came up with key shots down the stretch. Nicole Powell’s 3-pointer with less than 2 minutes left capped a 9-0 run and gave the Liberty an 82-72 lead, their biggest of the game.
“I thought my team played well until the last 2 minutes of the game,” Sparks coach Jennifer Gillom said. “We made some crucial mistakes that caused us to lose this game.”
The Liberty outscored the Sparks by 10 in the fourth quarter.








