Liberty shakes off layoff, edges Mystics

NEWARK -- The All-Star break for the Liberty lasted 11 days -- a grossly long layoff that was bound to show some effects.

The team committed a turnover on its first possession of Thursday night's game. But instead of slowly warming into its second-half opener against the Washington Mystics, the Liberty saw its sluggishness and uncharacteristic sloppiness linger.

The Liberty found itself trailing by one point with a minute to go. But a go-ahead layup by Kia Vaughn was followed by a tough defensive charge taken by Plenette Pierson with 36.6 seconds remaining, and that helped ensure a 75-71 victory that Liberty coach John Whisenant acknowledged was no thing of beauty.

"Good thing we got that out of the way," he said. "I feel fortunate we got out of here with a win."

It wasn't until Pierson picked up the charge on a drive by Kerri Gardin -- whose potential go-ahead floater fell through the net but was nullified -- that the Liberty secured the win.

"I just wanted to make sure I was there and didn't let them score," said Pierson, who scored 13 points. "It was big for us."

Cappie Pondexter (19 points) hit a free throw with 9.4 seconds left for a two-point lead and Pierson added two free throws with 3.3 seconds left to seal it. Vaughn finished with 14 points.

Crystal Langhorne had 18 points, Kelly Miller 17 and Marissa Coleman 13 for the Mystics (3-13), who have lost eight of nine.

There was obvious frustration with how the Liberty (10-7) played for most of the night. Foul calls were infrequent and shots weren't falling. The Liberty had only five assists and zero free-throw attempts in the first half.

But the horn that signaled the start of the fourth quarter may have finally roused the team from its collective daze. A quick layup, a steal and an assist by Essence Carson to start the fourth gave the Liberty a narrow lead and some momentum.

Pondexter had an impressive streak in the second quarter in which she tallied 12 consecutive points for the Liberty. But she knows her team did not play to its potential most of the night.

"You kind of lose that rhythm and that edge when you're not playing for a certain amount of days," Pondexter said. "It was a long period of time."