Estimated read time: 1-2 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
The WNBA's poorest-shooting team seemed to suddenly find its scoring groove Friday.
The Sky shot a sizzling 66.7 percent from the field in the first quarter and 53 percent for the opening half, then survived a second-half slump to claim a 78-73 victory over the New York Liberty before a crowd of 3,375 at the UIC Pavilion.
The victory was the second in three games as the Sky (3-14) reached the halfway point of its inaugural season. The Liberty (4-13) suffered its third straight loss.
In the end, free-throw shooting made the difference. The Sky opened the fourth quarter with an 11-4 surge for a 65-56 lead, then kept the Liberty at bay by hitting 12 of 14 free throws through the final five minutes.
"We made our free throws, and the nice thing was we had a lead," Sky coach Dave Cowens said. "Defensively we played with a lot of energy, (and) they knew we weren't going to allow them threes (late in the game)."
The Sky owned a 38 percent shooting percentage coming in, the WNBA's worst.
Candice Dupree led all scorers with 20 points as the Sky never trailed. Deanna Jackson had 13, while Amanda Lassiter and Bernadette Ngoyisa added nine apiece. Guard Becky Hammon paced the Liberty with 18 points.
The Sky travel to Washington on Sunday, then return to the Pavilion next Friday to host Houston in the second of six July home games.
---
(c) 2006, Chicago Tribune. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service.
