AUBURN HILLS, MICHIGAN (TICKER) —Janel McCarville scored a career-high 18 points, including four in overtime, to lead the New York Liberty to an 82-81 victory over the Detroit Shock on Friday.
McCarville, who also pulled down a career-high 10 rebounds, helped the Liberty shoot 4-for-7 in overtime to hand Detroit its third straight loss.
Cathrine Kraayeveld scored 14 points, Loree Moree added 13 and half of Erin Thorn’s 10 came in overtime for the Liberty.
Detroit’s Cheryl Ford led all scorers with 22 points and 18 rebounds. Deanna Nolan added 21 for the Shock.
Nolan’s 3-point shot with 4.2 seconds left in regulation tied the game at 73 and sent it to overtime, but she missed two shots in the extra session that could have given Detroit a win.
The Liberty took their first lead since early in the game when Shameka Christon hit a 3-pointer early in the fourth quarter. Kraayeveld added seven points in a 10-4 run that gave New York a 58-53 lead with 7:05 remaining in regulation.
After Ford tied it up at 60, Kraayeveld scored five unanswered points to give New York a 65-60 lead. Katie Smith’s 3-point shot with 2:25 remaining spurred a 7-1 run for the Shock that was capped by Nolan’s tying basket in the final seconds.
Moore missed a shot at the buzzer that would have given the Liberty a win in regulation.
The game was a turnaround from the first meeting - on June 8 - when both teams were undefeated.
Detroit entered having lost two in a row and three of four. The Liberty had dropped four of their last five, including an 84-53 defeat to Seattle on Sunday - their worst loss of the season.
Neither got on the board until 3:43 had elapsed, when Nolan scored on Detroit’s eighth shot of the game.
