Liberty Plays to the Crowd

Tari Phillips scored 16 points to lead New York to a 66-60 victory over the Detroit Shock on Monday night, extending the Liberty’s winning streak at Madison Square Garden to five games.

Tied, at 57-57, with 2:13 remaining, the Liberty went on a 7-0 run to take control. Sue Wicks and Teresa Weatherspoon each added 11 points for New York (10-4), which has won nine of its last 10 games.

Former President Bill Clinton and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton were among the crowd of 14,052.

“I tried to stay focused on the game, but I know I looked over there at least 25 times just to see what was going on,” Wicks said.

Elena Tornikidou led Detroit (4-9) with 16 points.

Houston 74, Portland 67--Tina Thompson had 29 points and 12 rebounds as the Comets (11-2) won at Houston to take a half-game lead in the Western Conference.

Jackie Stiles scored 15 of her 20 points in the first half and was limited to four shots in the second half for the Fire (8-5).

Miami 69, Utah 59--Sheri Sam had 23 points as the Sol (6-8) ended a five-game losing streak before 5,007 at Salt Lake City. Utah (5-7) made 33.8% of its shots.