Liberty Makes Up for Lost Time

New York Liberty guard Becky Hammon nearly got a standing ovation just for showing up.

Many in the crowd of 16,479 at Madison Square Garden Saturday night weren’t sure the Liberty’s starting five would appear before tip-off of their 81-67 victory over the Cleveland Rockers.

The start of the game was delayed 1 hour 40 minutes because the Liberty starters were en route from Charlotte because of stormy weather and airport cancellations. Hammon was the first starter to jog onto the court.

“They’d been waiting a long time,” said Hammon, who along with the four other starters and Coach Richie Adubato were delayed in Nashville. They took a seven-seat charter to New York, arriving at the Garden just before 8:30 p.m. EDT.

“It was a little scary because it was a smaller plane and it was really stormy,” Hammon said.

The team was scheduled to leave Charlotte at 9:50 a.m. Saturday after Friday’s victory there, but cancellations forced the Liberty to split up on three different flights.

Despite the long travel and short five-minute warmup, Crystal Robinson had 17 points as six New York players scored in double figures.

The Eastern Conference-leading Liberty (17-10) won its fourth straight and extended its lead to 2 1/2 games over the second-place Rockers and Orlando Miracle with five games remaining.

“We dug deep,” Robinson said. “Teresa Weatherspoon kept us focused in the airport. We talked about the game and their personnel.”

New York, winners of 10 of 11 games, got 14 points from Tari Phillips. Tamika Whitmore had 12 points and Sue Wicks and Weatherspoon added 11 apiece. Vickie Johnson, held scoreless in the first half, finished with 10.

“It’s a testimonial to how much desire we have to win,” Adubato said. “I was in the NBA 20 years, and the first 10 we flew commercial. You probably save four hours a day [if you use] charters. It makes a world of difference.”

A condensed season because of the Sydney Olympics and the addition of four expansion teams has meant a number of back-to-back games and travel problems around the league. In June, the WNBA canceled its first game when the Washington Mystics could not get a flight out of New York to Indianapolis.

Liberty General Manager Carol Blazejowski said Saturday night’s game was not in danger of being canceled. The league made an exception and allowed the Liberty starters to take a charter flight in order to make the game.

“As young as this league is, [flying commercial] was a policy they made at the start,” Blazejowski said. “Perhaps [now] four years later, they will reexamine it.”

Chasity Melvin led Cleveland (14-12) with 16 points and Rushia Brown had 14 points and 10 rebounds. Ann Wauters, the No. 1 draft pick, injured her right knee in the second half but returned.

Utah 79, Indiana 71--Adrienne Goodson scored a career-high 29 points as the Starzz beat the Fever before 8,803 at Salt Lake City.

Natalie Williams had 22 points and 15 rebounds for the Starzz (15-12). Alicia Thompson scored 18 points for the Fever (7-18).

Minnesota 87, Washington 85--Betty Lennox had a career-high 31 points, and Katie Smith added 22 as the Lynx (13-13) defeated the Mystics (11-15) before 14,416 at Washington.

Detroit 75, Charlotte 72--Wendy Palmer scored 21 points and Astou Ndiaye-Diatta matched a career-high with 18 as the Shock (12-14), losers of four of its previous five, beat the Sting (7-19) before 6,735 at Auburn Hills, Mich.