WNBA : Fever fall short in pursuit of Liberty

Loree Moore, Ashley Battle and Cathrine Kraayeveld each scored 15 points to lead the surprising New York Liberty to a 78-67 victory over the Indiana Fever on Tuesday night in New York.

Jessica Davenport added 12 points and Erin Thorn had 10 to help New York extend the franchise’s best start since opening 7-0 in the league’s inaugural 1997 season.

Tamika Catchings had 21 points and Anna DeForge scored 12 for Indiana, which had opened with four wins for the second straight year.

Both teams struggled with their shooting early. Indiana was 6 for 16 in the first quarter and New York was 3 for 9. The Liberty were 12 for 15 in the second quarter while taking a 37-26 halftime lead.

Monarchs 74, Silver Stars 57: At Sacramento, Calif., Rebekkah Brunson had 21 points and nine rebounds to lead Sacramento to a victory over San Antonio.

Nicole Powell had 16 points and nine rebounds for the Monarchs, who pulled away in the fourth quarter when they outscored the Stars 24-12. Both Kara Lawson and Yolanda Griffith scored 10 points.

Lynx 90, Mercury 85: At Phoenix, Seimone Augustus scored 22 points and Lindsey Harding added 20 and Minnesota defeated the Mercury for its first victory.

Nicole Ohlde had 19 points and 13 rebounds for the Lynx, who had their best shooting night of the season at 47.3 percent. Minnesota came into the game as the worst-shooting team in the WNBA at 35 percent.

Tangela Smith had 24 points and seven rebounds for the Mercury, who lost their third straight.