Liberty Evens Series
N E W Y O R K, Aug. 20 -- Tamika Whitmore scored eight of her 10 pointsduring a 17-0 first-half burst, and the New York Liberty held onfor a 51-45 victory over the Cleveland Rockers to tie their WNBAplayoff series 1-1 today.
Whitmore had the first two baskets and the last two during the10-minute run that turned a 7-5 deficit into a 24-7 lead for theLiberty, who lost the best-of-three series opener 56-43.
The Liberty, who have won 12 straight at Madison Square Garden,play host for the series finale Monday night. The winner advancesto the WNBA Finals against Los Angeles or Houston, which has wonall three league titles, twice defeating New York in the finalround.
Johnson Puts it Away
Becky Hammon led the Liberty with 13 points, and Tari Phillipsscored 12. Merlakia Jones led Cleveland with 18 points, and ChasityMelvin had 10.
The Rockers, trailing by 19 at halftime, started the second halfwith an 8-2 spurt to make it 37-25, and a 6-0 run closed them to45-36 with 6:47 left.
But Hammon responded with a jumper and a steal that led to alayup by Vickie Johnson, giving New York a 49-36 advantage with5:51 remaining.
Rockers Come Close
A 3-pointer by Jones closed the Rockers to 51-43 with 1:53 left,but they missed three 3-pointers down the stretch and managed justone more basket with 8.7 seconds to go.
Cleveland made its first two field-goal attempts and its lastfour of the first half, but in between, the Rockers missed 17straight. They went 14½ minutes, from 18:52 left to 4:42 to go inthe half, without a basket.
The Rockers also had 12 first-half turnovers and trailed 36-17at halftime.
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