Liberty Fight Hard to Win at Home

Shavonte Zellous is all smiles on the court amid heartache for her hometown. (Erica Ayala/MyWSports)

Honoring Orlando

Before most of the staff arrived to Madison Square Garden, one member of the New York Liberty shared her thoughts about the shooting at Pulse nightclub early Sunday. Shavonte Zellous went to high school 5 minutes from the attack, and her sister often attended Pulse with her friends. In fact, before getting a call from her job to cover an early shift, Shavonte’s sister had plans to attend Pulse the night before the shooting. Zellous shared her sister’s story with The Player’s Tribune:

“Her phone rang while she was driving. It was the shift manager from her job, asking her to cover the 6 a.m. shift. She said yes, turned around and went home to bed. Her friends — the three she was going to meet — never made it back home. Two were among the 49 killed. One is in critical condition.”

It was hard for Zealous to focus on preparing for the game with the grief she carries over the attack, but she felt that it was important for her to set an example, “We can’t live in fear even though this happened to us. We have to continue to live our lives. It’s gonna take time, time heals everything …” For Shavonte and the Liberty, continuing on meant preparing for a competitive Dallas team. In moments like this, Zellous expressed her genuine appreciation for the game, “Thank God for basketball, it gives me an outlet to leave the problems that I have outside the court and be with my teammates.”

First Half

Last night, the New York Liberty (5-4) hosted the Dallas Wings (3-6) Their last match-up at Madison Square Garden ended in a 78-71 victory for the Liberty. New York held on to win after jumping ahead 19-3 in the first quarter. Things were more even this time, as it was Dallas who owned the 26-22 lead after the First Quarter. The Wings took advantage of second chance points (9) and fast break points (4) to stay ahead. At one point Dallas led by as many as 8 points, that would be their largest lead of the contest. Odyssey Sims led the Wings in scoring with 10 points in the 1st.

In the 2nd Quarter, the Liberty did a much better job of protecting the ball, while also forcing turnovers. The Liberty defense collected 6 rebounds and limited Dallas to two offensive boards. Despite six ties and seven lead changes, New York closed the half leading Dallas 56-50

Second Half

Both teams came out firing on all cylinders. The Wings outscored New York 22-16 in the 3rd Quarter to bring the game it’s 7th tie at 72 points for each team. Karima Christmas led all scoring in the third with 8 points.

The 4th Quarter Dallas grabbed the lead early, making the game 78-74 with less than 8 minutes left in the game. The Liberty took the lead back with the three point shot from Sugar Rodgers to make it 82-80 with 3:39 left in the game. Minutes later, Dallas came back, recording the 11th tie of the match at 85 points each. With 9.1 seconds left, Shoni Schimmel collected two clutch free throws, “Bill had recently asked me if I was a good free throw shooter (laughs). In my mind I’m like, ‘knock these down and we’ll call it a night.’ Just going up there confident in myself and hitting the free throws was what was important.” With her two buckets and a huge block from Tanishia Wright to deny Dallas a three-point attempt, the Liberty hold on to win 91-88.

Post Game

The one word Coach Bill Lambeer wrote on the whiteboard in the Liberty locker room after Tuesday night’s victory (New York Liberty/Twitter)

During the post game press conference, Coach Bill Lambeer shared what he told his team immediately after the game, “I wrote on the board the word ‘heart’. I thought we had great heart tonight.” Lambeer knew that his team was tired after returning from their road stretch, but he felt the team dug deep to get a win, “We didn’t necessarily play a great game… we can’t give a team that many second shots, that many second chance points, or we’re gonna lose basketball games.” The Liberty allowed 23 second chance points and 5 fast break points on the night. This continues to be an issue for the Liberty, as well as offensive rebounds allowed (Dallas had 14 on the night). Leading scorer Tina Charles was aware that New York will need to grab more defensive boards moving forward, “Teams have been exposing us lately as far as our rebounding effort and that’s major,” said Charles. She wants the team to be more disciplined and box out.

In addition to rebounding and overall defense, Lambeer also knows he will need more points off the bench. It was Zellous who led scoring off the bench with nine points. Shavonte averages 9.3 points per game, but Lambeer knows she is capable of more, “I drafted Zeallous, I know what she can do … There’s no reason why she’s not a double-digit scorer. We need scoring off the bench and she’s a logical candidate.” To that end, Lambeer hopes to see more mid-range shooting, and more “selfish” basketball from the Orlando native. For now, Zellous and her teammates will enjoy the win.

The New York Liberty begin a three game road trip on Thursday against the Connecticut Sun. The Liberty return to MSG on Friday, June 24th where they will face the Chicago Sky, and celebrate Pride Night.

Follow Erica Ayala on Twitter @elindsay08