Pondexter gets 3,000th point as Liberty wins

After a fourth-quarter basket made her the third-youngest player in WNBA history to reach 3,000 points, Cappie Pondexter crossed that milestone off her to-do list and moved to the next item: give the Liberty sole possession of the final playoff spot.

With the score tied and 42.2 seconds remaining in a fourth quarter in which there already had been five lead changes, she took the inbounds pass and aggressively cut through the lane with hopes of giving the Liberty the lead for good. Pondexter drew contact from Asjha Jones and hit both free throws to propel the Liberty to a crucial 71-67 win over Connecticut Sundayat Madison Square Garden.

By forcing turnovers and sinking free throws, the Liberty (14-11) preserved its seventh win in nine games and moved ahead of Connecticut (13-12) into fourth place in the Eastern Conference with nine games to play.

"There's no better time than now," Pondexter, 27, said of the Liberty's turnaround. "We are trying to make a playoff push and be on the same page and have that momentum swinging the right way."

Pondexter scored eight of her 24 points in the fourth quarter, including a pull-up three-pointer as the shot clock was winding down to put the Liberty ahead 65-63 with 3:37 remaining.

After Leilani Mitchell (15 points) hit consecutive three-pointers to open an eight-point Liberty lead with 6:08 left in the third quarter, her team went on a nearly five-minute scoring drought.

The Sun responded with a 16-0 run, capped by a Renee Montgomery-led fast break in which she split two defenders to find former Christ the King and UConn star Tina Charles (12 points, 10 rebounds) for the lay-in, as Connecticut turned an eight-point deficit into an eight-point lead.

The Liberty answered with a 16-4 run that carried into the fourth quarter and concluded with Pondexter scoring on an up-and-under for a 60-56 Liberty lead and the 3,000th point of her career.

"It tells you what a premier player she is in this league and how potent she is offensively," Liberty coach Anne Donovan said of the former Rutgers star. "She has certainly solidified herself as one of the best players to ever play this game."

Pondexter's 3,000th point was inevitable, but the Liberty's chances of being in playoff contention after a slow start to the season was much less certain.

"Now that we are peaking at the right time," Donovan said, "I don't think there's anybody who's not talking about potentially New York being in the playoffs and doing damage."