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Liberty-Mystics Preview

Jul 17, 2009 - 7:03 PM By MATT BECKER STATS Senior Writer

New York (4-7) at Washington (6-6), 7:00 p.m. EDT

New York Liberty coach Pat Coyle hopes an impressive comeback win can restore her team's confidence and help it get on a little run. A game against the Washington Mystics should also help.

The Liberty look to build on their latest victory and continue their dominance over the slumping Mystics when they meet Saturday night at the Verizon Center.

In last Saturday's 71-69 win over Atlanta, New York (4-7) outscored the Dream 10-4 in the final 2:12 to get its second victory in three games. Trailing 67-63 with 1:20 remaining, the Liberty forced two turnovers and limited the Dream to 1-of-5 shooting the rest of the way.

"It's all about defense," said Shameka Christon, who led New York with 18 points. "We have to have that toward the end of the game to get the victory."

After Liberty center Janel McCarville tied the score at 69 on a three-point play with 44 seconds left, New York came up with two key defensive stops, including McCarville's block on a Chamique Holdsclaw layup attempt. Cathrine Kraayeveld was then fouled on the other end and converted the tiebreaking free throws with 11.5 seconds remaining.

"It was huge for our confidence factor," Coyle said. "We had to get two stops, and then we had to go down the other end and score, and we did."

While victories have eluded the Liberty, they've had no trouble beating the Mystics (6-6).

New York has won four straight over Washington by an average of 12.0 points and eight of the last nine meetings. The Liberty's defense has been leading the way, limiting the Mystics to 65.3 points on 39.5 percent shooting during the winning streak.

Led by Alana Beard, Washington boasts one of the top offenses in the league, but it's been unable to capitalize.

The Mystics are coming off Wednesday's 79-78 loss to San Antonio, their fifth defeat in seven games after starting the season 4-1. Washington had a chance to win, but Lindsey Harding's inbounds pass with 3 seconds left was stolen. It was the second time in three games the Mystics, who are averaging 82.3 points in those contests, lost in the final possession.

Washington's offense relies heavily on Beard, who averages a team-high 19.1 points, but the team was unable to get her involved down the stretch against the Silver Stars. Beard, named a starter for the Eastern Conference in next Saturday's All-Star game, scored 17 but was held without a point in the final quarter.

It was a rare off night for Beard at the Verizon Center, where she averaged 26.3 points in her first four games of the season.