Liberty look to keep momentum going against surging Sun (Aug 17, 2017)
The New York Liberty won their third game in a row when they stopped the Los Angeles Sparks at Madison Square Garden last Sunday, raising their record to 15-12.
"I think we've found our mojo a little bit as a team and we just want to keep continuing this," Shavonte Zellous said after her 19 points helped the Liberty to their big win.
The next step for that mojo won't be as easy when the Liberty visit the red-hot Connecticut Sun on Friday night at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville.
The Sun, who started the season with four straight losses and five in their first six games, have gone 17-4 since. They have won six straight, seven of their last eight and 12 of their last 14.
Their only loss in the last eight games came to the Liberty, who scored their first win in the three games of the season series at Madison Square Garden July 19. They lead the Eastern Conference and are the No. 3 seed in the playoffs, which they last reached in 2012.
Oh, and the Sun have won eight straight at home.
Wednesday night, the Sun, in the midst of nine of 10 games at home, went down to Atlanta and hammered the Dream with a season-high 28 assists.
Jonquel Jones, who goes against New York's Tina Charles on Friday, has seven straight double-doubles, 17 on the season.
"It's her putting time into her own game," Sun coach Curt Miller said. "Confidence coming back from a very successful first overseas season. She's so versatile too. It's not a lot the coaches are doing, it's just a great player showing her versatility."
Charles scored 21 points and Epiphanny Prince had 18 in the Liberty's win over the Sparks. Zellous credited their home fans as a key to the win that dropped the second-place Sparks to 20-8 on the season.
New York used a 20-0 run over a five-minute stretch of the second quarter, essentially doing to LA what the Sparks did to them out on the west coast.
Friday's game starts a new four-game homestand for the Sun, who swept a five home games before losing at Atlanta. They host the Phoenix Mercury Sunday and the Dallas Wings next Wednesday as they steam toward their playoff appearance.
Talking about the win over the Dream, Miller said:
"The Dream is so athletic. You worry about their athleticism and their ability to get out in transition so you have to compete and make them get in the half-court. We tried to make their shots as difficult as possible."
