Starzz Have Another Surprise For Liberty
WNBA
Wendy Palmer scored 19 points to lead the Utah Starzz to an 81-75 upset victory over the New York Liberty Tuesday night at Salt Lake City.
The loss kept Liberty from moving into a tie with Houston for the Eastern Conference lead.
It was Utah’s second straight win over Liberty and gave the Starzz a split in the season series. Utah downed New York 78-71 last month to end Liberty’s unbeaten home start.
Rebecca Lobo scored 27 points for New York. Lobo and Palmer each had nine rebounds.
Starzz 81, Liberty 75
At Utah
New York (75) - Johnson 3-9 0-0 6, Lobo 11-20 2-4 27, Hampton 4-5 4-5 12, Witherspoon 2-15 4-4 8, Weatherspoon 4-9 1-2 9, Blades 2-8 2-2 7, Wicks 2-9 0-0 4, Crumpton-Moorer 0-1 0-0 0, Trice 1-2 0-1 2, Ford 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 29-79 13-18 75.
Utah (81) - Koss 3-4 5-6 12, Palmer 6-10 7-10 19, Baranova 3-13 3-4 11, Hardmon 1-2 0-0 2, Reiss 3-6 3-4 10, Head 3-9 5-6 11, Carter 2-6 0-0 4, Booker 0-0 2-2 2, Williams 4-7 0-0 8, Hicks 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 26-58 25-32 81.
Halftime-Utah 37, New York 35. 3-Point goals-New York 4-22, (Lobo 3-4, Blades 1-7, Wicks 0-1, Weatherspoon 0-3, Witherspoon 0-7), Utah 4-9, (Baranova 2-6, Koss 1-1, Reiss 1-2). Fouled out-None. Rebounds-New York 47 (Lobo 9), Utah 47 (Palmer 9). Assists-New York 19 (Weatherspoon 5), Utah 16 (Head 4). Total fouls-New York 27, Utah 20. A-8,234.
Comets 77, Sting 69
At Houston, Cynthia Cooper, the WNBA’s leading scorer, had 31 points and Janeth Arcain added 20 as Houston strenghtened its lead in the Eastern Conference to 1-1/2 games.
The Comets (18-8) won for the seventh time in eight games.
Charlotte (69) - Bullett 10-15 4-5 24, Congreaves 2-3 0-0 5, Mapp 5-11 5-6 15, Levesque 3-4 0-0 9, Stinson 5-16 0-0 11, Suber 1-1 0-0 3, Manning 0-1 0-0 0, Moore 1-3 0-0 2. Totals 27-54 9-11 69.
Houston (77) - Arcain 8-15 3-4 20, Thompson 6-15 2-2 16, Guyton 0-1 2-2 2, Perrot 1-7 0-0 3, Cooper 10-15 6-8 31, Swoopes 0-3 1-2 1, Jackson 0-4 4-4 4. Totals 25-60 18-22 77.
Halftime-Charlotte 40-333-Point goals-Charlotte 6-13 (Levesque 3-4, Suber 1-1, Congreaves 1-2, Stinson 1-4, Bullett 0-1, Mapp 0-1), Houston 9-24, (Cooper 5-7, Thompson 2-6, Arcain 1-3, Perrot 1-6, Swoopes 0-2). Fouled out-None. Rebounds-Charlotte 28 (Mapp 7), Houston 40 (Guyton 10). Assists-Charlotte 20 (Stinson 7), Houston 13 (Thompson, Cooper 4). Total fouls- Charlotte 20, Houston 14. Technicals-Jackson. A-8,123.