|
 |
| Deanna Nolan #14 has been a hugely dominant player for Shock this season [GALLO/GETTY] |
Deanna Nolan scored 21 points and Taj McWilliams-Franklin added 19 to help the Detroit Shock reach the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) finals for the third straight season with a 75-73 win over the New York Liberty.
The Shock won the best-of-three Eastern Conference finals and advanced to
play the San Antonio Silver Stars for the championship.
Shock ahead
Detroit beat Sacramento in 2006 for its second league title, then lost in five games to Phoenix last year.
In the game on Monday, the Shock led by 20 points in the first half, but had to fight off the deeper Liberty in the second half.
Plenette Pierson, who played well in Sunday's Game 2 just seven days after dislocating her shoulder, was limited to two points in six minutes.
New York got within two early in the fourth period, but Loree Moore missed
a free throw and Alexis Hornbuckle answered with five quick points for the
Shock.
Close game
Detroit had a chance to put the game away from the line, but two misses by
Hornbuckle with 17 seconds left gave New York a chance, trailing 75-71.
 |
| Detroit Shock players take a breather [GALLO/GETTY] |
The Liberty missed two 3-pointers, before McWilliams-Franklin fouled
Shameka Christon with 0.8 seconds left.
Christon made both free throws, cutting Detroit's deficit to two, but the Shock ran out the clock. Janel McCarville led New York with 21.
San Antonio
In the Western Conference, San Antonio won their series 2-1 over Los Angeles advancing to the WNBA finals.
The finals now follow a best of five format
Wednesday, October 1: Detroit at San Antonio
Friday, October 3: Detroit at San Antonio
Sunday, October 5: San Antonio at Detroit
Monday, October 6: San Antonio at Detroit, if necessary
Thursday, October 9: Detroit at San Antonio, if necessary
|