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Friday, Jun. 9 7:00pm ET
Griffith, Monarchs motor past Liberty | |||||
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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
NEW YORK (AP) -- Yolanda Griffith played the type of game thatearned her MVP honors in the WNBA last season. Griffith scored 24 points on 8-for-12 shooting from the field as the Sacramento Monarchs defeated the New York Liberty 77-56 Friday night. "We ran the floor," said Griffith, whose team snapped a three-game road losing streak. "We didn't run in Orlando and Detroit. In Houston, we lost (by eight points), but it was a positive loss." The Liberty had no answer for the 6-foot-3 forward, who made easy transition layups and was 8-for-9 on free throws. LaTasha Byears added 12 points for the Monarchs (2-3), who outscored the Liberty 42-20 in the paint. Tari Phillips had a game-high 25 points for the Liberty (2-4), who made only 29 percent of their field-goal attempts. "It's almost as if there was a lid on the basket," second-year Liberty coach Richie Adubato said. "We made poor decisions on offense in the first half. It was the worst game we've played since I've been here." The Monarchs broke open the game with 10-0 and 15-0 runs in the first half. Griffith had a combined 10 points in the two spurts to give Sacramento a 32-15 lead with 5:46 left in the half. New York went more than nine minutes without a field goal before Becky Hammon made a layup with 3:01 remaining. Sacramento's Tangela Smith made consecutive layups for a 46-27 halftime lead. The Liberty trimmed the lead to 62-49 with 6:22 left, but could get no closer. Vickie Johnson had 10 points for the Liberty on 3-of-15 shooting from the field. "I've never shot that bad at home," said Johnson, New York's leading scorer last season. Ticha Penicheiro, the league leader in assists last season, had nine assists and three steals. Teresa Weatherspoon, who entered the game averaging a WNBA-best 7.8 assists, had none in the first half and finished with two assists, one steal and five fouls. "This game was different because we were 1-3," Penicheiro said. "We knew in our hearts and minds we had to get this game. We didn't care if we were in Madison Square Garden or against the New York Liberty, whoever was coming our way, we knew we had to win." Sacramento played without All-Star Ruthie Bolton-Holifield, who is resting a sprained right knee. New York's Crystal Robinson missed her fourth straight game because of a sprained left ankle. | ALSO SEE WNBA Scoreboard RECAPS Sacramento 77 New York 56
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