NOTES 

The Liberty once again found themselves in a nail-biter but were able to hold off the Indiana Fever in a thrilling 78-75 victory. The win snapped a two-game skid for New York, while the Fever lost their eighth straight game to start the season.

Shavonte Zellous started out hot for the Liberty, scoring seven of the New York’s first nine points. The guard scored a team-high nine points in the first half, finishing with 10 points, three assists and two rebounds.

In the Liberty’s first matchup against the Fever, Kia Nurse went off for 34 points, a franchise-record output from a rookie and a reserve. While she couldn’t replicate the historic night in her second game against Indiana, the guard had a solid performance nonetheless, finishing with 10 points, including a pair of threes. She has reached double figures in six of her seven career appearances.

Nurse missed a pair from the charity stripe in the first half, a rarity for one of the league’s best free throw shooters. Coming into the game, she had made 26 out of her 27 attempts on the season. As a whole, Liberty players went 11 of 16 from the line, well below their season average of 80.3 percent, the fifth-best conversion rate in the league.

Tina Charles finished with a season-low 13 points, the first game this season with fewer than 18 for the league’s leading scorer.

The Liberty bench turned in another solid performance, combining for 32 points in the contest. Coming into the game, New York reserves were averaging 26.7 points per game.

The contest marked another tight game for New York; every Liberty game this season has been settled by single digits.

The Liberty came into the contest shooting just 30.1 percent from three, the second-lowest mark in the league. Against Indiana, they converted a season-best 13 of their 24 attempts (54.2%). Sugar Rodgers lead the way, making five of her nine attempts from behind the arc, the most made in a game by a Liberty player this season. She paced the team with 16 points for the game.

Five Liberty players (Rodgers, Charles, Zellous, Nurse, and Hartley) finished in double figures, marking the second consecutive game at least four players have reached the 10-point benchmark.

The Liberty got numerous clutch plays down the stretch, converting four of their last five field goal attempts. Bria Hartley scored seven consecutive points starting at the 2:06 mark, while Marissa Coleman drained the game-winning three against her former team with 16.8 seconds remaining.

INDIANA COACH QUOTES

Pokey Chatman on team’s confidence… “Their character keeps them confident. I know they want to win. They are working hard, they are learning some tough lessons, under the lights.”

Chatman on containing Tina Charles… “You know she’s the head of the snake. You do a good job. Players are working hard. Things didn’t quite go our way at the end. I credit Erica McCall they ran slice two, pro cut, and we battled and came up short.”

Chatman on playing down the stretch… “Credit New York for making a play. They had to go to different options. We guarded it, but it shouldn’t have gotten down to that shot.”

Chatman on the fourth-quarter… “A lot of positive. We kind of come to expect that. We trust their work ethic and they trust each other. It was only 1:20 left and I told them [the team] that I wasn’t going to call a timeout and to run transition, and don’t let their defense get set so we can shrink the court. K. Mitchell got the rebound and pushed it in transition and kicked it to Victoria Vivians who had the courage to hit a big three to tie it up. That’s how you know the confidence is still there.”

INDIANA PLAYERS QUOTES

Kelsey Mitchell on being a leader for the team… “Stay positive. It’s all about playing in the moment. That’s what coach talks about. We have another opportunity to get it right and not mess it up again. With that being said growing pains, we will try to learn from our mistakes and trust the process at this point.”

Mitchell on what drives her… “Find out where I am effective and going forward being confident in whatever that is. A lot of where I need to get better is the defensive end and knowing where to be on my assignments, I’m playing in a league where everybody can make plays. It was a couple of plays that I messed up on. It’s my job as a rookie, no matter what to get it right.”

Mitchell on the last play… “it was a miscommunication on whether or not i was supposed to throw it into the elbow or not. I threw it and it was not there. So just a lot of miscommunication. But it’s nothing that we can’t fix.”

Natalie Achonwa on team’s fight… “We are competing for forty minutes, we are right there. It’s just going to take one more stop, one more shot, one more box out, one more deflection. We are one play away. We have to do that one percent more and we are going to get there.”

Achonwa on team’s approach… “I think a big focus for us was defending Tina [Charles] and making sure that she’s not getting extra possessions. So, I think when we are getting stops on defense that forwards on to offense.”

Achonwa on team’s play today without Candice Dupree… “That’s definitely why we are narrowing that gap because we don’t have a turnover. You have the five that are starting and being competitive. And the next people that are coming in are keeping that energy high and keeping that competitiveness and that is what is making those gaps shorter and shorter.”

NEW YORK COACH QUOTES

Katie Smith’s opening statement… “Tough one. I thought it was tough for either team to really get a flow. It was a really hard-fought game. It just never felt easy, but I thought our squad had a lot of contribution off the bench which gave us a spark and probably put us over the top.”

Smith on team’s three-point shooting… “Bria shot the ball well. Sugar shot the ball well. Sugar coming off the bench and hitting those and Nurse hitting a couple in the first half, it definitely helped us out. I thought Sugar came in and really gave us a spark on the offensive end, and we needed it to really give ourselves a cushion. We gave it right back though on a couple of offensive rebounds and some easy buckets by them.”

Smith of her team’s depth… “I think it’s huge. It’s something that we need to continue to kind of embrace. We challenge ourselves to make the right reads and of course we miss Tina, but opposing teams make an extraordinary effort to front her, and to put somebody on the back-side. They want somebody else to beat them. There was a couple of good high-low passes and there are other times when we could do a better job getting the ball to her and recognizing situations, but overall it was really good to see other people be aggressive and shoot the ball well. Boyd played well and really pushed the tempo. Again, I thought a lot of people made a lot of contributions.”

Smith on what was said during the last timeout… “Just move the basketball, read the defense, and take what they give you. All the time there is something that’s there. It’s just a matter executing. You need to see it, deliver the pass, and obviously at the end of the day, make the shot. But on the other end it really was about just trying to get rebounds. The other night against Connecticut, that’s what killed us in the second half, and here’s Indiana flying around, jumping around, and getting extra possessions. That’s what we were telling them, just that we have to finish plays with a rebound.”

Describe Bria’s resiliency and poise to tie it up and then give you the lead: “I think Bria is really comfortable in those situations and hits big shots for us. She is one of our best drivers and finishers. She can attack the rim and create for others. So that ability, being able to handle it and go make plays late in the shot clock or late in the game is huge. Tonight, she made some big buckets for us.”

Smith on what Pride Month means to the Liberty… “I think it’s not only this month, but I think for the WNBA, our team, this sport, it really is about diversity. We are all so different. We look different, and we come from different places. It is something we pride ourselves on. We are a part of a sport and a league that really owns that every single day, so we are really proud of our league and who we are as women. We embrace it, and it’s a lot of fun to really put it out there and celebrate being comfortable in our own skin.”

Smith on the shot from Marissa Coleman… “It probably felt really good for her, and I think the bench, their energy too, they realized how good that must have felt for Marissa. Obviously, it was a much-needed bucket. I am sure that felt very good.”

Smith on going up against Bill Laimbeer Wednesday… “It will be great. To have Bill back in New York, I am sure a lot of fans will have fun with him, whether it’s good, bad, or booing. He embraces all of that. It will be good to see him in a different role, with another team.”

Smith on what this win means moving forward… “I hope so, it was a big win. Playing a team below us in terms of record, and another on Wednesday, maybe you look at the standings and say they are a team that you should beat, but you have to show up against teams like that. There are still a bunch of little things we have to correct and they are some of the same things we have been battling with our first five games. We just really want to get better every night and become a much better basketball team. Boxing out, sharing the ball, making the right reads, hitting shots. We are pushing to continue to grow, and hopefully that helps us down the road.”

Smith on takeaways regarding tight games… “I think so, and also the confidence that you can play with anybody. We have played some of the best teams whether it’s Connecticut, I think Phoenix is one of the better teams, and also Minnesota even though they have lost some games. I think we have shown that if we just become a little bit more disciplined as a basketball team, we are right there with anybody. And again, it helps me as well with just trying to figure out execution at the end, with lineups, this, that and the other. We are all learning through this process, but I appreciate the grit that we show towards the end in trying to pull out games. It doesn’t hurt us.”

NEW YORK PLAYERS QUOTES

Marissa Coleman on the win… “It was exciting, especially to be against my former team, to have the opportunity to hit that shot, it was fun. We needed this win after the game-winner hit on us against Connecticut. We need to find ways to not be in these close games and not to be in the position where it takes a crazy shot from Stricklen or a game-winner for us. We just need to find ways to play with energy and sustain that for four quarters.”

Coleman on the team at this point in the season… “I think we are settling in pretty well. We are getting a lot of people back from injuries and Kia [Vaughn] was late back from overseas so it’s going to take time for us all to gel and [coach] Katie is still trying to figure it out as well. I think we can compete with anyone in this league from top to bottom. I think we have the best roster, I could be biased, but when you look at what our bench did today. Sugar came in and was huge for us, if she doesn’t come in and do what she did, we don’t win that game.”

Sugar Rodgers on her big game after battling an injury earlier in the season… “It’s just about staying with it. When you come back from an injury you don’t always feel the same because you haven’t been playing up and down basketball. Just to be out there and feel like myself feels good.”

Tina Charles on the major contributions from the bench… “The team definitely stepped up. I’ve been in situations like that before where the ball is just not going in the rim and it’s frustrating. When you have a team that is playing hard and being very encouraging, it just shows the depth of this team. The confidence that [coach] Katie has in each and every single one of them to put them in at that time, Sugar Rodgers coming in had a big impact. Bria Hartley being aggressive going to the rim. Marissa Coleman with the big shot. Everyone is capable of being a star in their own role.”

Shavonte Zellous on Pride Night… “It’s amazing just to come out here and play in front of a great home crowd, especially on Pride Night. To show the equality for men/men and women/women, it doesn’t really matter. Just to be with an organization and a league that supports it and even has initiatives for it like Pride Month and to have these Pride games really means a lot.”