Pierson scores 17 as Liberty cruise past Mercury

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) -- New York jumped out to a big lead and coasted to a needed win against the injury-plagued Phoenix Mercury. The Liberty were also able to rest their starters and give the reserves some valuable playing time.

Plenette Pierson scored 17 points on 8-for-13 shooting to lead New York's balanced offense and the Liberty beat the Mercury 87-59 Wednesday night.

Kara Braxton and Alex Montgomery added 12 points each, Nicole Powell had 11 and Cappie Pondexter 10 to help New York (11-16) move a half-game ahead of Chicago for the fourth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. The Liberty host the Sky on Friday night.

''We talked about Phoenix is out of the race, so two things could happen,'' New York coach John Whisenant said. ''We could let them go out and play loose ... or we could attack them defensively early and try to get them down, and that's what we did. I thought our players maintained their intensity pretty much throughout.''

The Liberty got off to a fast start and led 21-5 less than 6 minutes into the game. After Phoenix cut the deficit to 10 by the end of the first quarter, New York took control with a 10-0 run that doubled the lead to 33-13 less than 3 minutes into the second. The lead was 22 at halftime and swelled to 32 in the third.

New York finished shooting 47 percent (36 for 76) from the field, including 9 for 22 (41 percent) from 3-point range. The Liberty outrebounded the Mercury 40-34 and finished with a season-high 27 assists - led by Pondexter's eight.

The Liberty have won two of three on their six-game homestand. After facing Chicago, they host Los Angeles on Sunday and Washington next Wednesday. The Liberty then have three road games before finishing at home against Tulsa on Sept. 22.

''We're trying to make a playoff push and our focus right now is to win the home games that are coming up, Pondexter said. ''We did a great job tonight. We came out in the game, everyone had an opportunity to play and everyone scored. It was a great team effort.''

DeWanna Bonner scored 20 points for the Mercury (6-20), who fell into a tie with the Shock for last place in the West. Diana Taurasi and Alexis Hornbuckle added 10 points each.

''We're going to have to do a better job on every side of the basketball,'' Taurasi said. ''If you have bad possessions, you try to get back on defense. If defensively you don't get rebounds, it's hard to get a good offense going. It's a combination of things so hopefully we do a better job of that.''

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Pierson scores 17 as Liberty cruise past Mercury