Liberty hold off Sky for second straight win

(TSX / STATS) -- Shavonte Zellous hit a pair of free throws with 2.9 seconds left to help shut down a late Chicago Sky rally as the New York Liberty claimed an 86-82 WNBA victory on Sunday at Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Ill.

New York (12-10) has won two straight and four if its last five as Tina Charles shook off a slow first half to close with a team-high 15 points and 12 rebounds. Sugar Rodgers scored 14, Epiphanny Prince added 12 and Kiah Stokes and Zellous each added 10.

Allie Quigley scored a game-high 22 points for Chicago (8-16), which has lost three straight.

Jessica Breland had 13 points and 10 rebounds, Courtney Vandersloot scored 12 points and Stefanie Dolson added 11 for the Sky.

The Sky led 24-20 after one quarter as Quigley hit 3 of 4 3-pointers and scored 13 points.

But the Liberty opened the second quarter with 10 unanswered points to grab the lead en route to a 46-39 halftime advantage despite just five points from Charles.

New York maintained a 72-66 edge after three quarters and never trailed in the fourth.

Chicago was without two players for Sunday's game. Center Imani Boyette was out with an ankle injury. Keisha Hampton was initially cleared to play, but was pulled prior to the game due to a knee injury.

New York continues a five-game road trip on Tuesday at San Antonio and wraps up on Friday at Los Angeles before returning home for an Aug. 8 game against Indiana.

Chicago is at Indiana on Friday and hosts Atlanta on Saturday.

Liberty, coming off tough loss, take on Fever

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(TSX / STATS) -- The New York Liberty will try to climb back above .500 when they visit the Indiana Fever on Friday night in Indianapolis.

New York (10-10) won two of its past three games but is coming off a one-point loss on the road to the Minnesota Lynx on Tuesday night. The contest against Indiana marks the Liberty's second game of a grueling five-game road trip that also features stops in Chicago, San Antonio and Los Angeles.

As the Liberty look to take another step forward in their pursuit of a playoff berth, Indiana (8-14) is hoping to regain its home-court advantage. The Fever lost four games in a row on their home court, with their last victory at Bankers Life Fieldhouse coming June 15 against the Atlanta Dream.

New York coach Bill Laimbeer likes what he has seen from his players heading into their matchup against the Fever. He recently shuffled the lineup by moving Epiphanny Prince from point guard to shooting guard and placing Bria Hartley in the starting lineup at the point.

Center Tina Charles leads the Liberty with 20.7 points and 10.2 rebounds per game. Meanwhile, Prince is averaging 12.6 points per game to go along with a team-best 3.5 assists per contest.

"The structure that we have right now is good for us," Laimbeer told the team's official website. "We're pushing the pace better. We're getting easier baskets. We have good role definition."

Forward Candice Dupree leads Indiana with an average of 13.8 points and 5.4 rebounds per game. Dupree was the Fever's lone representative in the All-Star Game last weekend.

Guards Erica Wheeler (11.1 points) and Tiffany Mitchell (10.5 points) also are averaging in double-digit scoring for the Fever. Guard Briann January is on the cusp of double digits with 9.9 points per game.

The Fever have lost seven of their past eight games to slip far out of the playoff race. However, players continue to battle hard during a difficult season that includes crowded flights on commercial airlines.

"I give our players a lot of credit, because I don't know how they do it," Fever president and general manager Kelly Krauskopf told the Indianapolis Star. "We take very early flights, depart at 6 or 7 a.m., to go between cities to play another game after we just played the night before. They're such troupers and good sports in terms of trying to find the time to get their rest and get enough sleep."