Liberty rallies past Connecticut with pressure 'D'

After the Liberty's 77-68 victory over Connecticut Sunday at the Garden, the question most often asked was about the team's identity.

"It's still ahead of us what our identity is," coach Anne Donovan said. "But I'll tell you what, our full court defense looked pretty good tonight."

Led by Cappie Pondexter's 19 points, the Liberty rallied from a 14-point first quarter deficit and outscored the Sun 61-38 over the next three.

Nicole Powell had 14 points with 10 rebounds and Taj McWilliams-Franklin finished with 10 points.

On the surface, the Liberty (6-7) may have found an identity in its pressure defense.

They held Connecticut rookie Tina Charles scoreless in the second half with only two rebounds after the former Christ the King and UConn star had 10 points and 14 rebounds in the first half.

The Liberty's halftime adjustment slowed the Sun and focused on denying Charles the ball.

"It prevents them from having so much time on the clock," McWilliams-Franklin said. "And that's what we want to do, when they bring the ball up, we want it to be, 16, 15 [seconds]. Do they have time to run a full play, or time to scramble?"

At times, it was hard to tell which team is near the top of the Eastern Conference standings and which is at the bottom.

Connecticut (9-5) turned the ball over 19 times against the Liberty.

"It became more obvious that they couldn't throw us easily," McWilliams-Franklin said. "I think I tipped a couple of balls . . . I think [McCarville] got a couple, that's what coach wanted us to do from the beginning."

Said Sun coach Mike Thibault, "My disappointment tonight is New York tipped the pressure in the second quarter and beyond, and we didn't handle it well."

Donovan said the best is yet to come for the Liberty, who have several new players on this year's roster.

"The only real mainstay from last year is Janel McCarville," Donovan said. "When you have that significant change in your key personnel, chemistry, identity and all those things are still coming."

It was the Liberty's last home game before the July 10 WNBA All-Star game.

The Liberty will have a better idea of who they are after road games at Los Angeles, Phoenix and Seattle.

With AP