Hammon, Liberty upend Lynx

Becky Hammon scored 13 points, including 11 in the final 5 minutes, to lead the New York Liberty past the Minnesota Lynx 59-47 Sunday night in Minneapolis for their third straight victory.

Elena Baranova added 12 points and Crystal Robinson 11 for the Liberty, who finished their road trip 3-1 and took over sole possession of third place in the Eastern Conference. New York has won five straight in Minnesota.

Nicole Ohlde scored 17 points for the Lynx, who fell into fifth place in the Western Conference. Vanessa Hayden added 13, but leading scorer Katie Smith was held to just five points on 2-of-12 shooting.

Monarchs 91, Shock 51: Nicole Powell made five 3-pointers and finished with a career-high 25 points, leading Sacramento to a rout of Detroit in Sacramento.

The 40-point decision is the fourth-largest margin of victory in WNBA history and surpassed the Monarchs’ team record 39-point win over Minnesota (91-52) July 3, 2001. The largest margin of victory was Houston’s 45-point win over Washington (110-65) in August 1998.