Two first-placed teams. One comprised mainly of past and present all-stars, the other of largely gifted youth powering up at the best possible time of year.
One squad had won seven straight, the other came into Sunday 11-0 versus the Eastern Conference.
Both are trying to land home-court advantage throughout their conference's playoffs, and maybe, just maybe, meet again in the 2008 WNBA Finals.
The San Antonio Silver Stars (21-10) reclaim a share of the league's best record (with divisional foe Seattle), courtesy of an 85-73 win at Connecticut against the Sun.
Guard Vickie Johnson's shot clock-beating jumper with 59 seconds to play seemed to seal the win for the Stars. It put them ahead by 7 late in a half in which they did not trail once.
Longtime friend and teammate Becky Hammon contributed much of that second half magic, tallying a game-high 24 points. She also earned 5 assists.
"They were giving me so much attention," says Hammon. "I have no problem with passing to my teammates and letting them knock down shots. We have a lot of people who can score and we are going to continue to get W’s."
Hammon's big second half allowed her to eclipse the game's other high scorer, forward Sophia Young, who finished with 22 points.
"We came in and we were focused and we tried to play our team game," remarks Young, the third-season veteran out of Baylor. "Everybody did their thing, give our defense credit for what it did tonight."
Sun Still Shining
The loss ends Connecticut's seven-game winning streak. However, they remain in first place in the east, a game ahead of the Detroit Shock.
For the second straight Sunday on national television, Sun forward Ashja Jones was Connecticut's scoring leader, drilling 22 points, emulating similar brilliance a week earlier against Seattle when she recorded 20. She also collected a team-high nine rebounds this Sunday.
"We didn’t make a lot of shots tonight," says Jones, despite going 10-for-18 from the field herself. "I had open lay ups that I missed. We had open threes, things that we were making all season. They don’t miss free throws. They’re an 80% free throw shooting team."
Center Tamika Whitmore threw in 17 points, and guard Lindsay Whalen scored 16.
The Sun now embark on their final road stretch of the regular season, a Texas trip that will pit them against Houston Tuesday, and a rematch with the Silver Stars Thursday in Alamo Town.
2005 Liberty Meets 2008 Squad
Three veteran Silver Stars, formerly of New York Liberty fame, make a special return to Madison Square Garden Tuesday night. For Vickie Johnson (NYL 1997-2005), it's her third such homecoming. It's Hammon's second (NYL 1999-2006). And for center Ann Wauters, back in the WNBA after a two-season hiatus, she returns to 'the Garden' for the first time since leaving New York three summers ago.
"I love New York!" Wauters says. "I can't wait to go back - it will be a great game!"
Johnson, Wauters and Hammon were all starting teammates on the 2004 and 05 Liberty campaigns, both of which reached postseason convincingly.
Again the Silver Stars will be involved in a potential championship preview, yet players say they're taking the rest of the regular season one big game at a time.
"They're playing great basketball," says Hammon about New York. "We will definitely need to bring our A-game."
