Nicole Powell scored 20 points and the Liberty cruised to a 91-69 victory over the Atlanta Dream on Wednesday.
Kia Vaughn had 14 points, Leilani Mitchell scored 12 and Plenette Pierson 11 to help the Liberty (8-5) win for the sixth time in seven games. Cappie Pondexter and Quanitra Hollingsworth each added 10 points.
Angel McCoughtry scored 17 points, Coco Miller had 15 and Armintie Price added 12 for Atlanta (3-9), which has lost six of eight.
The Liberty scored six consecutive points, capped by Pondexter’s fastbreak layup, to take a 64-43 lead with 5:42 left in the third. Another 6-0 run, topped by a free throw from Hollingsworth 4:11 later, made it 75-50 – the Liberty’s biggest advantage of the game.
Trailing by 24 after three quarters, the Dream cut the deficit in half with a 12-0 run to pull to 77-65 on Price’s free throws with 4:15 remaining in the game. Vaughn’s free throws 15 seconds later ended the Liberty’s scoring drought.
Pierson left the game with an apparent knee injury midway through the third quarter and did not return. She fell after battling for an offensive rebound and lay facedown for several minutes. She was helped off the court and to the locker room by trainers.
After the Liberty led by 14 early in the second quarter, Atlanta cut the deficit to six with 7 1/2 minutes to go in the period.
However, Pondexter followed with a layup, Powell hit a 3 and Mitchell had a layup to push the Liberty’s lead back to 13 about 1 1/2 minutes later. Powell’s 3 with under 2 minutes to go in the second quarter extended the Liberty’s advantage to 49-32.
The Liberty led 54-37 at the break, its highest scoring first half of the season. The Liberty shot 57 percent (21 for 37), including 5 for 6 on 3s in the first 20 minutes.
Essence Carson scored four points during as the Liberty took control with an 11-0 run in the first quarter that gave them an 18-7 lead with 3:22 to go in the period. Sidney Spencer’s jumper in the opening minute of the second quarter extended the lead to 14.
The Dream made a run as McCoughtry and Courtney Paris scored five points each during a 10-2 run that pulled Atlanta to 29-23 with 7:33 left in the first half.