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Sunday, Jun. 18 6:00pm ET
Shock's 31-2 run puts game away | |||||
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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
AUBURN HILLS, Michigan (Ticker) -- The Detroit Shock were in a record-setting mood Sunday. The Shock established a WNBA record for points in a game and a team record for victory margin in a 111-74 pounding of the expansion Indiana Fever. The 111 points eclipsed by one the record set by the Houston Comets, who posted a 110-45 victory over the Washington Mystics on Aug. 17, 1998. Detroit's previous best point total came in 104-94 double-overtime loss at Utah last July 6. "I think our whole team was in the witness protection program for a few weeks and our assistant coaches just found them in the last few days," said Shock coach Nancy Lieberman-Cline, whose team was coming off Friday's 93-81 victory at Cleveland. "All this team wants to do is score. This is two games in a row where it's all come together." Wendy Palmer scored 22 points to lead the Shock, who recorded the most lopsided win in team history by outscoring the Fever 66-31 over the final 20 minutes. The biggest previous victory in club history was a 25-point triumph at Los Angeles last Aug. 9. The Shock shot a club-record 59 percent (35-of-59) and set a team record for points in a half. Detroit also went to the free-throw line an astounding 54 times, making 40 shots. "We have a beautiful team to watch when we have our effort and attitude right," Lieberman-Cline said. "This is the type of game that you dream of as a coach. Unfortunately, I had to dream about it for three years before I finally got it." Gordana Grubin netted 19 points and Alicia Thompson 14 for the Fever, who could not build on Saturday's surprising 79-54 victory at Orlando. "We just got outworked. On every possession of this game they were working harder than we were," Thompson said. "We're a better team than that. We just didn't come out and play hard." "I don't have an answer how we played," Fever guard Rita Williams said. "We didn't put forth near the effort we did yesterday against Orlando. We just didn't play very well." Coming off Saturday's win, the Fever came out energized in the first half Sunday, shooting 56 percent (15-of-27) over the first 20 minutes and trailed just 45-43 at intermission. But the second half was a different story. After Thompson drilled an 18-footer with 18:28 remaining to pull the Fever even at 47-47, it was all downhill from there. Palmer converted a layup, Edwina Watson a free throw and Astou Ndiaye-Diatta a layup, triggering an 11-0 burst that gave Detroit a 58-47 advantage with 13:52 remaining. The run of 11 consecutive points turned into a 31-2 burst that Palmer capped with a layup with 9:07 to play, which provided the Shock a commanding 78-49 lead. "We know we've got a great team," Palmer said. "We just have to show it more often. We said we wanted to come out focused for the second half and things just got rolling. That was a great stretch." Oksana Zakaluzhnaya gave the Shock their biggest lead and helped them set the league record for points, when she made two free throws with 65 seconds remaining for a 111-70 bulge. Indiana shot 48 percent (26-of-54) and committed 27 turnovers. | ALSO SEE WNBA Scoreboard RECAPS Houston 78 Minnesota 66
Detroit 111
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