Liberty erase Storm’s five-game winning streak

NEWARK, N.J. – Essence Carson scored 22 points and Cappie Pondexter had 20 to lead the New York Liberty to a 77-59 victory over the Seattle Storm on Saturday.

DeMya Walker added 11 points for New York (5-9), which had lost four of its previous five.

Ann Wauters and Tina Thompson scored 10 points each for Seattle (6-8), which snapped a five-game winning streak.

The Storm shot just 32 percent from the field (19 for 59), including 4 for 22 on 3-pointers.

Sue Bird’s third 3-pointer of the game – and first since about 4 minutes into the game – capped a 7-1 run that pulled the Storm to 56-48 heading to the fourth quarter.

Pondexter and Kara Braxton had consecutive layups to restore the Liberty’s double-digit lead, 65-52, with 6:17 to go. Seattle got no closer than 10 again.

Nicole Powell’s jumper with less than 43 seconds to go closed the scoring and gave New York its largest lead of the game.

The Liberty’s second 9-0 run of the game, started by Carson’s two free throws with just more than a minute remaining in the first quarter and capped by Kia Vaughn’s layup with 8 minutes to go in the half, gave them a 20-12 lead.

Camille Little’s three-point play pulled Seattle to 24-21 near the midpoint of the second quarter, but Pondexter followed with a 3 and Vaughn had a turnaround jumper to push the Liberty’s lead to eight with 3 1/2 minutes to go in the period.

The Liberty led 31-23 at the break. Seattle had its lowest first-half scoring total of the season.