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Friday, Jun. 16 7:00pm ET
Canty's quick recovery boosts Shock | |||||
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BOX SCORE
CLEVELAND (AP) -- Dominique Canty made a quick recovery from the flu to help the Detroit Shock defeat the Cleveland Rockers. Canty matched her career high with 22 points to spark the Shock to a 93-81 victory Friday night, snapping the Rockers' five-game winning streak. "She had the flu all week," Shock coach Nancy Lieberman-Cline said of Canty. "I told her, 'So did (Michael) Jordan.' That's a good reference point." Canty also had seven assists and five offensive rebounds. "We all came out ready to play," Canty said. "The intensity of everybody on the team was catching. It was a great effort." Chastity Melvin scored a team-record 28 points for Cleveland (5-2). Melvin made her first nine shots from the field and finished 10-of-12. She was 7-of-12 from the foul line. "If it was in a winning effort, I would be happy," Melvin said. "I'm not into records. I'm into winning." Edwina Brown scored 17 points and Wendy Palmer had 13 for the Shock (3-4), which had five players score in double figures. Eva Nemcova and Merlakia Jones each scored 14 points for Cleveland. The teams were tied seven times early in the second half before Brown scored six consecutive points to help Detroit open a 76-70 lead. The Shock finished the game with a 21-9 run and came within a point of tying the team scoring record set in a victory over Utah on July 6, 1999. "We need to play good defense to win," Rockers coach Dan Hughes said. "Defensively, we never got into the flow against a very quick, athletic team." Both teams shot exceptionally well from the field in the wide-open game that featured numerous fast-break baskets. Cleveland shot 61 percent and Detroit shot 55 percent. The combined .576 effort was a WNBA record for both teams in one game. Melvin scored 15 points in the first 8:37 as Cleveland opened a 26-18 lead. Detroit's pressing defense got the Shock back into the game. Astou Ndiaye-Diatta had eight points in a 17-4 run that gave Detroit a 37-36 lead with 2:58 to go in the first half. "This was the third game in a row we were down double digits," Lieberman-Cline said. "This was a breakout game for this team. We got points off our defense and our bench played great and got us back in the lead." Detroit's reserves outscored Cleveland substitutes 35-14. The Rockers' reserves outscored opposing subs by an average of 25-12 during Cleveland's winning streak. Cleveland shot a team-record 77 percent from the field (17-of-22) in the first half, but was outscored 13-5 at the line and trailed 44-41 at halftime. | ALSO SEE WNBA Scoreboard RECAPS Detroit 93 Cleveland 81
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