Carson, Pondexter help carry Liberty past Storm

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) -- Essence Carson scored 22 points and Cappie Pondexter had 20 to lead the New York Liberty to a 77-59 victory over the Seattle Storm on Saturday.

DeMya Walker added 11 points for New York (5-9), who had lost four of its previous five.

Ann Wauters and Tina Thompson scored 10 points each for Seattle (6-8), which snapped a five-game winning streak. The Storm shot just 32 percent from the field (19-for-59), including 4-for-22 on three-pointers.

Sue Bird's third third-pointer of the game -- and first since about 4 minutes into the game -- capped a 7-1 run that pulled the Storm to 56-48 heading to the fourth quarter.

However, Pondexter and Kara Braxton had consecutive layups to restore the Liberty's double-digit lead, 65-52, with 6:17 to go. Seattle got no closer than 10 again.

Nicole Powell's jumper with less than 43 seconds to go closed the scoring and gave New York its largest lead of the game.

Carson had a bank shot and Pondexter made a layup in the opening minute of the third quarter to extend the Liberty's eight-point halftime lead to 35-23.

Thompson's layup cut the lead to 39-32 with 7:05 left in the period, but New York scored the next six points and Pondexter's 3 with 4 minutes to go pushed the Liberty's advantage to 50-36.

The Liberty's second 9-0 run of the game, started by Carson's two free throws with just more than a minute remaining in the first quarter and capped by Kia Vaughn's layup with 8 minutes to go in the half, gave them a 20-12 lead.

Camille Little's three-point play pulled Seattle to 24-21 near the midpoint of the second quarter, but Pondexter followed with a three-pointer and Vaughn had a turnaround jumper to push the Liberty's lead to eight with 3 minutes to go in the period.

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Carson, Pondexter help carry Liberty past Storm