• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Mystics-Liberty Preview

Jul 14, 2010 - 2:49 PM By SAMANTHA PANITCH STATS Writer

Washington (12-5) at New York (8-9), 12:00 p.m. EDT

After rising to the challenge of playing six games in 10 days, the Washington Mystics have been trying to stay focused through quite a bit of downtime.

The Mystics hope 12 days off won't affect them as they look to win their fifth in a row when they face the New York Liberty on Sunday.

Washington (12-5) last took the floor in a 69-54 win over Tulsa on July 3. The Mystics went 5-1 in a grueling 10-day span that included a run of four games in six days.

The Mystics seemed hardly fatigued in their final game before the All-Star break, holding the Shock to four points in the second quarter to tie the WNBA record for fewest points allowed in a quarter.

Monique Currie led the Mystics with 17 points and Crystal Langhorne added 15 and nine rebounds.

"Crystal is one of the best rebounders in the league and she's always willing to do whatever we need her to do," coach Julie Plank said. "Monique seems to be on a mission right now and she seems very confident."

Langhorne is fifth in the WNBA in rebounding with 9.8 per game and also leads the team with 17.0 points a contest.

Currie has averaged 19.0 points in two games against the Liberty this season - 4.2 above her season average.

New York (8-9) will try to contain Currie and keep Langhorne off the boards as they look to avoid falling to 0-3 in the season series. Washington won the first two meetings by an average of 16.5 points, taking the last matchup 82-65 on June 12.

Currie had 20 points and six steals, while Langhorne added 13 points and a game-high nine rebounds for Washington. The Liberty's Cappie Pondexter scored 20.

Pondexter, New York's leader with 20.2 points per game, had 30 to power the Liberty to a 57-54 win over Chicago on Sunday. She had 14 points in the final 13 minutes as New York rallied from 13 down.

Pondexter spent her All-Star break training with the U.S. national team and has kept in mind what Geno Auriemma told her.

"Geno challenged me to take this team to a higher level," Pondexter said of the University of Connecticut coach who is leading the national team. "Coach challenged everybody with a losing record in that locker room on the USA team to help make their teammates better and that's what I was thinking about."

Pondexter will try to help the Liberty win for the fifth time in seven games as they look to move up from fifth place in the tightly bunched Eastern Conference.