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Sky-Liberty Preview

Jul 10, 2010 - 10:50 PM By SAMANTHA PANITCH STATS Writer

Chicago (8-10) at New York (7-9), 4:00 p.m. EDT

The New York Liberty didn't have much go right for them during the first half of the season, except when they played the Chicago Sky.

New York looks to avoid a third straight loss and improve to 3-0 against the Sky when the teams meet at Madison Square Garden on Sunday.

Playing their first game since the All-Star break, the Liberty (7-9) are eager to put the first half of the season behind them. The club's disappointing record would have been worse had it not been for victories over Chicago on May 16 and June 8.

New York is coming off a 78-70 defeat to Seattle on Tuesday. Taj McWilliams-Franklin recorded team highs of 20 points and 10 rebounds, but the Liberty shot 37.5 percent from the floor and 33.0 percent from 3-point range.

"We just needed to execute in the fourth quarter," McWilliams-Franklin said. "We don't really worry about other teams. We worry about our offense and defense, and I think we had some letdowns. We allowed some shots that we hadn't allowed in the first three quarters."

Cappie Pondexter shot 6 for 21 against the Storm, but was far better in an 85-70 victory over the Sky on June 8. The Chicago native scored a season-high 31 points and went 14 of 18 from the field for the Liberty, who led by 27 in the fourth quarter.

Sky leading scorer Sylvia Fowles had 11 points and took only nine shots in that contest, but she has been outstanding in July, averaging 24.7 points in three games. She earned MVP honors in the All-Star game Saturday, scoring 13 of her 23 points in the third quarter and finishing with eight rebounds to lead the U.S. national team past the WNBA All-Stars 99-72.

Chicago (8-10) got another big game from the red-hot Fowles on Tuesday, but couldn't avoid a 58-51 loss to Indiana.

The Sky trailed 39-21 at halftime before battling back with a 16-0 run to end the third quarter, but were unable to overcome the slow start. Fowles had 15 of her 26 points and a franchise-record nine of her career-high 18 rebounds in the third.

"I was disappointed that we couldn't use the energy from the third quarter that we created to pull off an upset," coach and general manager Steven Key said. "It's a little frustrating to play a team that was in the finals last year and you try to beat them by playing only one quarter in a game. It's not going to happen."

Chicago acquired 6-foot-4 Christi Thomas earlier this week, and she will make her Sky debut Sunday.

"With Christi Thomas we will add depth and size to our frontcourt plus invaluable WNBA experience to our team," Key told the team's official website.

Thomas is a six-year veteran who began her career with Los Angeles. She started this season in training camp with Tulsa but did not make the final roster.