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Liberty-Mystics Preview

Jun 12, 2010 - 4:09 AM By SANTOSH VENKATARAMAN STATS Senior Writer

New York (3-4) at Washington (4-4), 7:00 p.m. EDT

Impressive victories on Friday have the Washington Mystics and New York Liberty in position to sweep their weekend set of games.

One of these Eastern Conference rivals will accomplish the feat Saturday night when the Mystics host the Liberty.

Washington (5-4) ended a three-game road skid with a 95-78 victory at Chicago on Friday. Lindsey Harding led a balanced attack with a season-high 25 points and Monique Currie had 22.

Harding scored 13 of her 22 second-half points in the third quarter. She averaged 11.0 points during Washington's road slide.

"In the second half, I decided to be more aggressive and play to my strength which is penetrating," Harding said. "They did a great job closing in on me which forced me to step up and hit some shots."

New York (4-4) has won two straight for the first time after beating East-leading Atlanta 91-79 on Friday behind Cappie Pondexter's 25 points.

Pondexter was coming off a season-high, 31-point performance in which she made 14 of 18 shots in Tuesday's 85-70 win at Chicago.

"Cappie for sure is our motor," coach Anne Donovan said. "She's the engine that makes us go. ... She's our star offensively. ... She is the one that everybody feeds off of."

The Liberty also got two key 3-pointers down the stretch from Leilani Mitchell as they overcame a 50-18 disadvantage in points in the paint. New York survived after letting a 15-point lead in the fourth quarter slip to seven.

"We are getting better," Pondexter said. "The chemistry is definitely getting better, but again, the fourth quarter. It's been eating us up. ... We have to learn how to close it out, and I think that's our battle right there going into the next stretch of games."

That was the problem for New York in its 77-61 loss at Washington on May 21. The Liberty didn't score over the final 6:21 as the Mystics closed on a 16-0 run.

Harding scored 21 points in that victory and turned in some solid defense on Pondexter, who made 4 of 10 shots for 14 points.

Pondexter is averaging 16.0 points in New York's losses and 24.8 in its victories.

Washington shot 50.0 percent in the win over the Liberty and failed to reach that mark again until hitting a season-high 61.7 percent Friday.

"This was our best shooting and also our best passing night," coach Julie Plank said. "I thought we did share the ball well and that led to some easy baskets."