Physical play throughout the game had the teams battling until the last minute.

“Typical Indiana-New York matchup where it’s just grueling and physical and no one is giving up anything easy,” said Liberty head coach Anne Dononvan. “It’s a battle…it’s a great team that we just beat and they could be there down the road so I give them a lot of credit…We feel very fortunate to have home court advantage.  Our fans were phenomenal.”

At halftime, Indiana led New York by one point, 47-46. The Fever’s Tamika Catchings and Katie Douglas went into the break with 15 points each. For New York, Cappie Pondexter had 19 points at halftime.

The Liberty managed to take the lead early in the third quarter at the 9:16 mark but the Fever fought back. A couple of lead changes came within minutes of each other before the Indiana managed to stay ahead of New York for the remainder of the quarter.

Early in the fourth quarter Pondexter scored to get the Liberty within one point but Ebony Hoffman came right back with a trey and to make the score 68-65. However, the tams remained close and Liberty took the lead at the 1:14 mark behind a shot a free throw from Pondexter. However right afterwards, Ebony Hoffman quickly scored and the game was tied at 74 with 50 seconds left in the game.
After a timeout, Pondexter penetrated the Fever’s defense, drove to the basket making an awkward shot giving New York a two point lead with 27.0 left on the clock. It was her 30th point, a Liberty playoff record.

“All-star players step up…this is their time of year,” said Donovan of Pondexter. “Marquee players and MVP players…this is their spotlight time and Cappie did that again tonight.”

New York’s Kia Vaughn had a personal playoff record of 13 points and Essence Carson added 11.

Fever head coach Lin Dunn was not happy with the officiating in the final stretch of the game especially when a foul on Catchings was not called in the last minute of the matchup.

After criticizing the officiating in the post game press conference Dunn said “they can go ahead and fine me.”

For the Fever, Douglas finished with 24 points, Tamika Catchings added 21 and Ebony Hoffman had 13.

The Liberty face the Atlanta Dream on Sunday, September 5^th at 7pm. The game will be televised on NBA TV.

New York Liberty Quotes

Coach Anne Donovan

On Kia Vaughn:

“I’m so happy for her.  There is nobody that has worked harder this year and not really seen the results.  Last game, I thought she had good minutes at Indiana which fortunately gave her confidence coming into the game tonight and with Janel [McCarville] out, we had to have her in the rotation.  I think she surprised herself with how well she played and I know she surprised Indiana.”

More on tonight’s game and the season:

“We’ve had Cappie [Pondexter] who has led the way…she’s been our mainstay and MVP and we had other players step up.  Tonight was not Nicole Powell’s night but Essence [Carson] did a great job stepping in there and that’s the beauty of this team.  It’s great to see a team win like this.”

Kia Vaughn

On her play:

“Tammy and Ebony and Jessica Davenport, they’re all aggressive and that’s how they are, so I just knew that I had to come out there and be aggressive. I’m a strong girl…I knew I had to be aggressive and push them around and basically be the one to go out there and do it first.”

Cappie Pondexter

On the 2010 Liberty team:

“I’ve been on two championship teams and one common thing is togetherness. No matter if you’re the most talented team or what and that’s one special thing that we have this season.”

On Kia Vaughn:

“She’s amazing, her whole career I’ve never seen Kia play like that and if she didn’t play like that then we definitely wouldn’t be advancing to the next round. I told Kia this is a special opportunity for her. She’s been battling in her mind all year. She’s been in and out of rotation, some games she plays some games she doesn’t and I told her this is the perfect opportunity for her to step up and show the world who she is. And today she definitely did. This is her birthday I think and I think we’ll see more of that. ”

On her performance:

“I live for moments like these as a basketball player. When I’m in the gym working out I think about moments like this to prepare myself mentally. In my mind, that’s all it’s about. It’s mind over matter in all situations and I just took it upon myself to take over. And I love having the last shot.”

Indiana Fever Quotes

Head Coach Lin Dunn

On tonight’s game:

“It was a hard fought game.  We had two teams fighting for their life out there.  I thought we did everything we needed to do down the stretch to pull out a win on the road.  I was very disappointed that Eric (Brewton), Denise (Brooks), and Lamont (Simpson) did not call a foul when Tamika (Catchings) drove to the rim the first time and the second time.  I really thought she was fouled both times.  It’s unfortunate that the players did not get to finish the game on their own.  What we needed to do was get the ball forward and attack the rim.  We have to give them credit.  They stepped up big at crunch time and got some help from their bench.  I thought Kia (Vaughn) was big for them filling in and Plenette (Pierson).  It was a great game.”   

Tamika Catchings

On Kia Vaughn:

“I thought Kia did great.  She came out obviously with Janel (McCarville) out.  Somebody had to step up.  She was all over the boards, offensively and defensively.  I thought she had a really good game with them.  In order for them to keep winning she has to keep stepping up like that.”

Katie Douglas

On tonight’s game:

“I just thought it was a battle that both teams were playing to win and it was just overall an incredible game for women’s basketball.  You could see that neither team wanted to lose and go home.  I’m just proud of the way that we fought.”

The Fever vs. Liberty series is the only conference semifinal series to go to a deciding third game. Indiana evened the best-of-three series Sunday night with a 75-67 in front of a crowd of 14,624 at Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. Tamika Catchings had 17 points and 13 rebounds to pace the Fever, which also got 14 points from Tammy Sutton-Brown, 11 from Katie Douglas and 10 from Jessica Davenport. Cappie Pondexter led the Liberty with 28 points. Essence Carson added 17 and veteran Taj McWilliams-Franklin had 15 points and 10 rebounds.

The winner of tonight’s contest will advance to meet the fourth-seeded Atlanta Dream in the Eastern Conference Finals.
WNBA Playoffs Eastern Conference
(1) Washington vs. (4) Atlanta – Atlanta won, 2-0
(2) New York vs. (3) Indiana – Series tied, 1-1

Western Conference
(1) Seattle vs. (4) Los Angeles – Seattle won, 2-0
(2) Phoenix vs. (3) San Antonio – Phoenix won, 2-0

• WNBA.com preview
• Fever seek breakthrough victory (indystar.com)
• Liberty face do-or-die Game 3 vs. Fever (nypost.com)
• New York Liberty have to beat Indiana Fever down low if they want to advance (espn.com)

After sweeping Rookie of Month awards during her first season as a professional player in the WNBA, it is no surprise that the league announced Tina Charles as  the 2010 Rookie of the Year. A national panel of 39 sportswriters and broadcasters unanimously awarded Charles the honor.

The former Connecticut star was the first overall pick in the 2010 WNBA Draft. She averaged 15.5 points and 11.7 rebounds per game, team bests.

Charles finished the season leading all rookies in scoring and rebounding and was the league leader in the latter category. She set WNBA records for rebounds (398) and double-doubles (22) in a season.

The league also announced the All-Rookie team. The voting panel consisted of the WNBA’s 12 head coaches, who chose five players regardless of position. Coaches were not permitted to vote for players on their own team. Charles and Wright each received 11 votes, while Greene, Griffin and Prince each got 10.

Around the Web:

• 2010 Season Rookie Rankings (WNBA.com)
• Tina Charles Playerfile (WNBA.com)

Notes and Quotes

• Indiana ended a three-game losing streak against the Liberty that is New York’s longest vs. the Fever since it won each of the first six games the two played in 2000 and 2001.
• With team-highs of 17 points and 13 rebounds, Tamika Catchings registered the 14th double-double of her postseason career. Jessica Davenport added eight rebounds off the bench, her most ever in a playoff game.
• The Fever’s 41 rebounds tonight are the third most ever in team postseason-history.
  Janel McCarville led the Liberty with 11 rebounds, her postseason career-high.
• New York’s eight points in the first period are the fewest ever scored against the Fever in the first period of a playoff game, and they matched the fewest scored against Indiana in any postseason quarter.
• Cappie Pondexter’s 22 field goal attempts tied the most ever in a playoff game by an opposing player against the Fever, a record she and Diana Taurasi tied in last season’s WNBA Finals.  Ashja Jones set the record for Connecticut in 2007.

Lin Dun

Thanks to our fans.  They were loud and strong and gave us energy.  We did a good job of defending the threes.  We did a much better job on the boards.  We did not give up those second chance points.  Now we get to go back to New York for World War III.  We wanted to get off to a good offensive and defensive start.  We did much better developing the low post game with Tammy Sutton-Brown.  Tonight we played 40 minutes of good basketball.  It does not surprise me that we are going three games.

Fever’s Katie Douglas

At different times different players step up. That’s what the playoffs are all about.  Everybody knows each other so well.  I’m not sure how many times we’ve played them, but it feels like 15 times.  So everybody knows each other’s plays.  It’s about execution.  I think we did a good job for the majority of the game.  Finding the people that were hot and getting the ball where it needed to go.

On having Finals experience:

Hopefully, it helps a bunch. But, they have some WNBA champions on their team as well.  Hopefully, we understand what is at stake. There is no tomorrow guaranteed.  I know that the veterans, the starting five that were there played in a big game on a big stage.  So hopefully, we can use that experience and come out with an aggressiveness and but also a calmness about us.  You know there needs to be a sense of urgency, but not a sense of panic.

Liberty head coach Anne Donovan

The fourth quarter was positive for us.  The first three quarters were not.  They disrupted us.  We only had seven assists and that’s low.

The Eastern conference has been competitive since day one.  It’s possession by possession.  Both teams like to play defense.

We could not put the ball in the hole.  We had poor offense.

A panel of the WNBA’s 12 head coaches voted on the WNBA All-Defensive Team, selecting First and Second Teams by position. Coaches were not permitted to vote for players from their own team. Players earned two points for each First Team vote and one point for a Second Team vote.

Top finishers in the vote for the 2010 WNBA All-Defensive Teams: