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Sales leads Sun to win

Connecticut's Nykesha Sales looks to drive past Indiana's Deanna Jackson late in the Sun's overtime victory. (Associated Press / The Spokesman-Review)
Associated Press
Connecticut's Nykesha Sales looks to drive past Indiana's Deanna Jackson late in the Sun's overtime victory. (Associated Press / The Spokesman-Review)

Nykesha Sales hit a buzzer-beating jump shot to complete a comeback that gave the streaking Connecticut Sun a 79-77 overtime victory over the Indiana Fever on Tuesday night in Uncasville, Conn.

Indiana was in front 77-74 when Sales connected on a 3-pointer with 36 seconds remaining in overtime. The decisive basket at the buzzer gave Sales 21 points and Connecticut its sixth straight victory.

Taj McWilliams-Franklin added 20 points, and Lindsay Whalen had 16 points and 10 assists for Connecticut, the leader in the WNBA’s Eastern Conference.

Indiana’s Tamika Catchings had 24 points, Kelly Miller added 20 and Natalie Williams had 16 points and 15 rebounds.

Whalen led a 14-3 surge to the end of regulation time after the Sun trailed by as many as 11 points in the second half. Whalen scored seven points in the run, but missed a tie-breaking free throw with 8 seconds remaining.

Catchings missed a 3-pointer in the final second, and the game went to overtime.

A 3-pointer by Stephanie White with 1:02 remaining gave the Fever a 77-74 lead before Sales tied it with her 3-pointer.

Miller missed and Williams was called for a foul, giving the Sun a chance for Sales’ winning basket.

The Fever (9-8) outrebounded the Sun 43-21 and never trailed until Sales’ game-winning shot.

Liberty 73, Monarchs 66: At New York, Becky Hammon scored a season-high 26 points — including four over the final 31 seconds — and New York beat Sacramento in Pat Coyle’s debut as interim head coach of Liberty.

Vickie Johnson had 15 points and rookie Shameka Christon added a season-high 12 points and six rebounds for New York, which closed the game with 23-7 run over the final 7:43.

Yolanda Griffith had 17 points and Kara Lawson added 15 for Sacramento, which has lost consecutive games after a three-game winning streak.

Coyle, an assistant with the Liberty since 1998, was named interim coach on Saturday, replacing the fired Richie Adubato.

New York, which lost 73-47 at Sacramento last Thursday, won for just the second time in 10 games after a 6-1 start.

Tied 30-all at halftime, the Monarchs went on an 11-2 run over the opening 2:51 of the second half, capped by Lawson’s fastbreak layup.

New York closed it to 45-43 on Christon’s layup with 12:51 left, but Sacramento pushed its lead back to nine on Lawson’s short fadeaway for a 59-50 lead with 8 minutes remaining.

The Liberty then went on their game-ending run, started by a 3-pointer by Christon.

Shock 82, Comets 63: At Auburn Hills, Mich., Swin Cash had 19 points and 11 rebounds for Detroit, and the Shock ended a four-game losing streak with a victory over Houston.

Cash, playing on a sprained ankle, came close to achieving the third triple-double in WNBA history. She had eight assists and six steals as Detroit beat Houston for the first time in 10 tries.

Ruth Riley and Cheryl Ford scored 16 points apiece for Detroit.

Houston got 13 points and 14 rebounds from Michelle Snow, but lost its third straight game. Tiffani Johnson added 12 points for the Comets, and Sheryl Swoopes had 10.

Detroit led 43-33 at halftime.