AUBURN HILLS, Mich. (AP) -- Cheryl Ford tied a career high with
24 points to lead the Detroit Shock to a 65-53 victory over the New
York Liberty on Sunday.
"Cheryl's our leading scorer, and when she gets on a roll in
the post, you have to keep feeding her the basketball," Shock
coach Bill Laimbeer said. "She gets the foul line a lot, she
converts a lot, she's definitely our best player this year."
Katie Smith added 12 points to help Detroit avenge an
eight-point road loss to the Liberty on Thursday night.
The Shock (21-9) closed out the first quarter on a 21-2 run to
take control.
"We spotted them a big lead in the first quarter and we just
didn't recover from it," New York coach Pat Coyle said. "Pretty
much we outscored them in the next three quarters by five. The
first quarter hurt us."
Ford gave Detroit its biggest lead, 49-30 midway through the
third period, by scoring 11 straight points -- seven on free throws.
She also had 11 rebounds for her 15th double-double of the season.
"She was a force to be reckoned with and anytime a player is
playing like that, you just want to ride them," said Detroit's
Swin Cash, who topped the 2,000-point mark for her career with her
six points.
The Shock, who also got 10 points from Deanna Nolan, maintained
a comfortable lead despite shooting only 36.8 percent from the
field. New York hit only 35.6 percent.
"We came out and played hard from the beginning," Ford said.
Loree Moore led the Liberty with 10 points.
New York (9-22) managed only six points in the first quarter and
got no closer than 12 points after its sluggish start. The Liberty
committed 17 turnovers.