Liberty Can’t Do Without Spoon

The New York Liberty found itself in a predicament it couldn’t solve here Friday night against the Charlotte Sting in the WNBA Eastern Conference finals.

No Teresa Weatherspoon available, no win.

The Liberty, which led by three at halftime, had difficulty adjusting when its all-star point guard got in foul trouble and the Sting went on to win, 78-67, and take a 1-0 lead in the best-of-three series.

Weatherspoon, who was charged with two fouls within a four-second span early in the second half, fouled out with 7:48 remaining and New York trailing by five.

Charlotte’s lead increased to 10 points less than a minute later when Niesa Johnson sank a shot in the lane and Stinson scored on a fastbreak.

“That was a very difficult thing for us,” Liberty Coach Richie Adubato said of Weatherspoon’s foul trouble. “It was the first time this year we were in that position and we didn’t handle it very well.”

Without Weatherspoon on the floor for more than 10 minutes of the second half, the Sting shot 59% from the floor--and controlled the game.

Dawn Staley, Rhonda Mapp and Andrea Stinson each scored 16 points for the Sting, which outrebounded the Liberty, 35-24. Crystal Robinson led New York with 17 points.

The Liberty, the winner of the regular-season conference title, lost for only the sixth time in 34 games over a two-year span when leading at the half. The series goes to Madison Square Garden Sunday.

“The beauty of it is that this is not over by any stretch,” Weatherspoon said. “We are going home, we will have our crowd behind us and we will have fun.”