Liberty beat Comets 71-62

HOUSTON (AP) _ Elena Baranova and Becky Hammon each scored 13 points to help the New York Liberty beat the Houston Comets 71-62 on Thursday for their fifth straight win. <br/><br/>The Liberty blew a 16-point

Friday, June 4th 2004, 5:50 am

By: News On 6

HOUSTON (AP) _ Elena Baranova and Becky Hammon each scored 13 points to help the New York Liberty beat the Houston Comets 71-62 on Thursday for their fifth straight win.

The Liberty blew a 16-point second-half lead but were able to hold on and defeat the Comets for the second time in 10 days.

The Liberty (5-1), which lost its first game of the season at Indiana, beat the Comets 68-62 on May 23 at Madison Square Garden.

Sheryl Swoopes scored a game-high 19 points for the Comets, who lost their second straight game and fell to 1-2 at home.

Tina Thompson added 13 points and Michelle Snow added 12 points and seven rebounds for Houston (3-4).

New York took a 44-28 lead with an 8-3 run to start the second half.

Tari Phillips (11 points) made a pair of layups, including a reverse with 17:03 left, to give the Liberty a 16-point lead, their biggest of the game.

But Houston responded with a 21-6 run and took its second lead of the game when Swoopes hit a 17-foot jumper with 8:01 left.

After the Comets took a 53-52 lead with 7:21 to go, Hammon led the way with six points and helped the Liberty close the game with a 19-9 run.

Sun 71, Sting 62

In Uncasville, Connecticut, Nykesha Sales scored 20 points and Lindsay Whalen added a career-high 11 to lead the Sun.

Whalen, a rookie guard, also had a career-high four steals and finished with five assists for Connecticut (2-2), which started the season with consecutive losses.

Kelly Mazzante had a career-high 15 points for the Sting (2-3).

Lynx 55, Silver Stars 47

In Minneapolis, Katie Smith scored 13 of her 15 points in the second half and the Minnesota Lynx pulled away for the win.

The game was tied 45-45 with 3:15 to play, then Minnesota closed the game with a 10-2 run. Reserve Michele Van Gorp scored 13 points for the Lynx (3-3).

LaToya Thomas had 12 points for the Silver Stars (3-3), who scored 14 points off 23 Minnesota turnovers, but lost their second straight game. Adrienne Goodson added 11 points for San Antonio, which took a 41-40 lead on Goodson's 3-pointer with 5:20 to play.

But Smith hit a 3-pointer and made four free throws in the final 3 minutes for the Lynx.

Monarchs 68, Sparks 51

In Sacramento, California, Yolanda Griffith scored 20 points and had seven rebounds to lead the Sacramento Monarchs.

Griffith, a candidate to be added to the United States Olympic basketball team, outplayed Sparks center and Olympian Lisa Leslie. Leslie, the 2001 league MVP, scored just four points before fouling out with 56.6 seconds remaining.

Tangela Smith added 13 points and nine rebounds, including her 1,000th career board, for the Monarchs (2-3). Mwadi Mabika had 11 points to lead the Sparks (3-3).

Storm 72, Mercury 45

In Seattle, Lauren Jackson finished with 15 points after going scoreless in the first half, helping the Seattle Storm snap a two-game losing streak.

The Storm (3-2) outscored the Mercury 50-22 in the second half.

Diana Taurasi, the first overall pick of the 2004 draft, didn't score had six points on 3-of-10 shooting for the Mercury (3-2). She entered the game averaging 20.8 points a game.

Anna DeForge led the Mercury with 12 points. Phoenix had a three-game winning streak stopped.