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NEW YORK (AP) -- Tari Phillips sparked the Madison Square Garden
crowd with the national anthem. Then, she led the New York Liberty
to the Eastern Conference finals.
Phillips, selected the WNBA's most improved player earlier in
the day, had 15 points and 10 rebounds as the Liberty beat the
Washington Mystics 78-57 Monday night to advance to the conference
finals.
|  | | New York's Vickie Johnson (right) drives past Murriel Page of the Washington Mystics on Monday. Johnson scored 10 points to help the Liberty win. |
"It was a very befitting day for us to actually clinch this
part of the series," said Phillips, who sang the anthem to the
roar of the crowd of 15,309. "(My teammates) were there when I
received the award, and everybody was kind of fired up."
Becky Hammon led the way with 19 points for New York, which on Thursday will
face either Orlando or Cleveland, who play Tuesday night.
Vickie Johnson, Tamika Whitmore and Crystal Robinson scored 10
points apiece for the Liberty, who have won 11 straight home games.
New York's last home loss was a 72-67 setback on June 25 against
Los Angeles.
"The key to postseason play is preparation," said Chamique
Holdsclaw, who was held to 12 points on 6-for-15 shooting. "We
found out today they had two shoot-arounds. They broke our press
pretty easily and rebounded."
Markita Aldridge also had 12 points and Tausha Mills added nine
for the Mystics, who were outscored 40-28 in the paint and
outrebounded 31-19.
"Our defense was very intense," New York coach Richie Adubato
said. "We didn't give them any second shots. We controlled the
backboards."
This time, Holdsclaw could not lead the Mystics to victory at
Madison Square Garden.
On June 13, Holdsclaw scored 23 points and hit the game-winning
shot against New York in a 57-56 victory, one of only four Liberty
regular-season home losses.
But New York clamped down defensively on Holdsclaw, holding the
1999 rookie of the year to four points in the second half. Nikki
McCray, who averaged 15.5 points, was held scoreless.
The Liberty shot 52.5 percent from the field, including 6-for-12
from 3-point range.
"This is not the way we wanted to end the season," Washington
interim coach Darrell Walker said. "It was a thrill to coach them.
There are some things they have to do individually in the
off-season (to improve.)"
Ahead by 15 at halftime, New York extended the lead to 48-32 on
Phillips' third straight layup five minutes into the second half.
She left after getting an elbow in the mouth and chipping her tooth
with 11:53 remaining.
Sue Wicks' 16-foot jumper gave the Liberty a 58-38 lead and
consecutive 3-pointers by Hammon and Robinson made it 64-42 with
8:03 left.
"I was due for a big game," Hammon said. "Our team did a
great job of finding the open person tonight."
Phillips sat out five minutes before adding a putback, and the
Mystics could get no closer than 68-50 the rest of the game.
New York led 12-4 in the opening five minutes on Johnson's
baseline 3-point shot, which capped a 7-0 run. A tip-in by Wicks
extended the lead to 15 points before Vicky Bullett's two free
throws stopped a 9-0 Liberty run at 26-13 with 7:03 remaining in
the half.
Three straight layups by Holdsclaw, who scored eight points in
the opening period, trimmed the lead to 26-19 with 4:55 remaining.
But New York closed out the half on a 14-6 run -- behind six points
Whitmore -- for a 40-25 halftime lead.
The Liberty lost four of five regular-season games to the
Mystics during the past two seasons. They defeated the Mystics
72-63 in Game 1 on Saturday night.
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ALSO SEE
WNBA Scoreboard
Liberty's Phillips named WNBA's most improved
RECAPS
New York 78
Washington 57
Houston 75
Sacramento 70
AUDIO/VIDEO
 Becky Hammon glides to the hoop for the layup.
avi: 687 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
Tari Phillips drains the easy jumper against Washington.
avi: 635 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
Chamique Holdsclaw drives and drops the sweet layup against New York.
avi: 1142 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
 Becky Hammon knows the Liberty can be dangerous on any given night.
wav: 267 k
RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
Teresa Weatherspoon is proud of her team's chemistry during the playoffs.
wav: 95 k
RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
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