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WNBA New York Liberty

It's Game Night

May 26, 2005 - Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA)
New York Liberty News Release


The Liberty hosts the Indiana Fever at The Garden tonight at 7:30 p.m. Crystal Robinson's first rebound tonight will be the 500th of her career, so come celebrate with her and the rest of the squad! Cheer on the Liberty as the team faces off against Tamika Catchings and the Fever.

All that cheering will work up an appetite, so stop by the concession stand and save $2 on chicken fingers with fries. Or swing by Play by Play for specials on margaritas, filet mignon wraps and buffalo shrimp. And don't forget to drop in at the Team Store to save 15% off Maddie ceramic mugs.

Great seats are still available! Get yours now at the MSG Box Office, by phone at 877-WNBA-TIX or online at nyliberty.com. We'll see you at The Garden tonight!

Probable Starters

Vickie Johnson
Becky Hammon
Crystal Robinson
Elena Baranova
Ann Wauters

Injury Report: Loree Moore is on Injured Reserve: left knee arthroscopy, excision of bony formation and scar tissue.

TRANSACTIONS: Dec. 8, 2004, Pat Coyle named head coach ... April 1, Nick DiPillo named assistant coach ... April 5, Vickie Johnson re-signed for ninth season ... April 7, La'Keshia Frett and DeTrina White re-signed ... April 16, Loree Moore, Tabitha Pool and Rebecca Richman selected 10th, 23rd and 36th, respectively, in the 2005 WNBA Draft ...April 20, Monique Coker, Stacy Stephens, Kelley Gibson, Amisha Carter, Keila Beachem, Ndeye Ndiaye and Aminata Yanni signed as free agents ... April 29, Stacy Stephens and Keila Beachem waived ... May 2, Aminata Yanni waived ... May 3, Kelley Gibson and Ndeye Ndiaye waived ... May 11, Rebecca Richman waived ... May 16, Tabitha Pool waived ... May 18, Bethany Donaphin waived ... May 19, K.B. Sharp and Monique Coker waived ... May 20, Loree Moore placed on Injured Reserve.

Today's Match-up

Today the New York Liberty host the Indiana Fever in a 7:30 p.m. game at Madison Square Garden ... This is the second game of the season for the Liberty ... The team is coming off a 78-71 season opener loss to Detroit on May 22.

Next Up

The Liberty will hit the road, first traveling to Washington for a 7:00 p.m. game on Wednesday, June 1 ... The team then makes the trip to Detroit to face the Shock at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, June 3 ... The Liberty returns home to The Garden on Sunday, June 5 to host Washington at 4:00 p.m.

All-time Series History vs. Indiana (10-7)

The Liberty has a winning record against the Fever, having won 10 of the 17 games the two teams have played since Indiana entered the league in 2000 ... The two Eastern Conference rivals faced off four times in 2004, with the Fever winning the season series 3-1 ... The Fever won the first three games of the series, two in Indiana, 69-67 and 70-65, and one in New York, 72-68. The Liberty's sole 2004 Fever win came at Radio City Music Hall, 77-71 (OT).

2005 Game Recaps

GAME #1: May 22 -- Shock 78, Liberty 71: The Shock started out strong, rushing to a 20-9 lead at the 11:33 mark ... Detroit led by as many as 15 in the first half before heading into the locker room with a 40-29 lead ... Becky Hammon scored nine points in the first half for the Liberty, while Niele Ivey and Cheryl Ford scored six apiece for the visitors ... New York re-grouped in the second half, as a Hammon three-pointer at 16:16 sparked a 16-4 Liberty run ... La'Keshia Frett gave New York its first lead of the game, 53-51, at the 10:14 mark ... The teams battled back and forth over the final 10 minutes, but the Shock held on for the 78-71 win ... Hammon led all scorers with 24 points ... Ford recorded a double-double, posting 15 points and 18 rebounds.

PRE-SEASON GAME #2: May 15 -- Liberty 62, Shock 68: The pre-season game was a story of two halves ... The Shock out-scored the Liberty, 34-21, in the first half ... New York came out of the gate in the second half and almost doubled its first-half production, scoring 41 points ... The second half surge was not enough, as the Shock held on for the 68-62 win ... Detroit out-shot the Liberty both from the field (.438-.344) and from beyond the arc (.333-.150) ... The Liberty did shoot significantly better from the charity stripe, combining on 15-20 free throws compared to just 11-23 from the opponent ... Shameka Christon led the Liberty with 19 points, while DeTrina White paced the team on the boards, hauling down eight rebounds.

PRE-SEASON GAME #1: May 7 -- Storm 58, Liberty 72: Despite missing four players -- three still overseas and one at her college graduation -- the Liberty pulled off the win over the defending WNBA Champions ... New York connected on .400 of its shots, compared to just .286 from the visitors, however the Storm out-rebounded the Liberty, 39-30 ... New York took a 32-21 lead into the locker room at the half after forcing 14 Storm turnovers for 14 points ... The Storm performed better in the second half, improving its field goal shooting to .375 and committing only eight turnovers ... The efforts were not enough, however, as the Liberty held on for the 14-point margin of victory ... Shameka Christon rattled off 15 points, 11 of which came in the second half, to lead all scorers.

Team Notes

THERE'S A FIRST FOR EVERYTHING
Tonight will be the first time in the history of the Liberty that the team will open the season with two consecutive games at Madison Square Garden ... New York opened the 2005 season at home on Sunday and play again in the friendly confines of The Garden tonight ... The team opened its season at home only one time before, in 1999, but hit the road immediately following.

REBOUNDING ROBINSON
Liberty forward Crystal Robinson needs just one rebound to grab 500 in her career ... After one game in her seventh year in the league, she has a 2.7 rpg average for her career ... The 5'11" Robinson's rebounding career high came against Los Angeles on June 22, 2004 when she nabbed 10 boards.

THIRD TIME'S THE CHARM
The Liberty was 1-3 against the Fever in both 2003 and 2004 ... The team will look to change that trend beginning with tonight's game ... The Liberty ended last year headed in the right direction against the Fever, winning the two teams' last meeting, a 77-71 overtime win on September 16, 2004 in the final game at Radio City Music Hall.

LEADING THE WAY
Elena Baranova led the Liberty in scoring last season against the Fever ... She recorded 17.5 ppg over the course of the four games ... Tamika Catchings also averaged 17.5 ppg for the series for Indiana ... Baranova pulled double duty, leading her team in rebounds for the series as well, pulling down a total of 23 boards ... Natalie Williams hauled in 36 rebounds for the Fever.

DEAR ALMA MATER
Several players in tonight's game can join in chorus to sing their alma maters ... New York's Loree Moore and Indiana's Tamika Catchings both attended the University of Tennessee ... Both played for the infamous Pat Summitt, though Catchings graduated in 2001 while Moore just hung up her orange and white jersey this spring ... Liberty forward La'Keshia Frett and Fever guard Kelly Miller are full of Bulldog pride, as both attended the University of Georgia, graduating in 1997 and 2001, respectively ... The two women played for Andy Landers while in the Bulldog uniform.

THE SILVER LINING
Season openers have not been too lucky for the Liberty thus far ... In nine years of action, the Liberty is just 2-7 in its opening games ... With Sunday's loss to Detroit, the team has lost six straight, starting in 2000 ... However, Vickie Johnson has remained the bright spot through it all ... Johnson is the only Liberty player to have appeared in all nine opening day games and has scored in double figures in seven of those games, including 16 points on Sunday.

CAREER DAY AT THE GARDEN
Becky Hammon posted a season opener career high in points scored on Sunday when she dropped 24 on Detroit ... Her previous season opener high was 20 points, set in 2003 against Cleveland ... Hammon's 24 points is also a team high for opening day.

TURNING IT AROUND
Despite losing seven total season openers, the Liberty has only twice lost the following game ... After suffering losses to start the last four seasons, the team immediately turned it around and won its second game of each year ... Only in 1998 and 2000 has New York opened the season with two straight losses.

NO REST FOR THE WEARY
After tonight's game, the Liberty will hit the road for two games before returning to The Garden for the team's third game in five days ... The Liberty travels to Washington on Wednesday, June 1, then heads to Detroit to play at The Palace on Friday, June 3 ... New York finally comes home to face Washington again on Sunday, June 5.

THEY'RE BACK
Sunday was Ann Wauters and Elena Baranova's first game in a Liberty jersey this year ... Both players missed the greater part of training camp while fulfilling commitments to their teams overseas ... The time was well-spent though, as the two Liberty teammates faced off in the Russian Finals, of which Wauters came out on top ... In their first game back, Baranova recorded four points and five rebounds in 22 minutes, while Wauters posted 14 points and eight rebounds in 33 minutes on the floor.

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