Liberty’s Sugar Rodgers Comes off the Bench and is the Game’s Impact Player

After a tough three-game series, the New York Liberty is moving on to the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time in 13 years. This year’s team is one of the best group of women to ever play for the Liberty franchise. In case you’ve forgotten, this team has the best record in franchise history, as well as, in the WNBA for this season. The Liberty is the best defensive team in the league and they were also the first team to reach 20 wins in this year’s regular season. This group of seasoned veterans and flaming hot rookies have deemed themselves unstoppable.

WNBA Eastern Conference Semi-Finals Game 3 Recap

Last night, New York defeated the Washington Mystics 79-74 in the final game of the Eastern Conference semifinals. Overall, the game was close but the players of New York came through and made big plays when it counted the most. In the opening quarter, Washington managed to outscore the Liberty by 10 points. Ivory Latta nailed three trey’s contributing 9 points to her team within the first seven minutes of the game. The Liberty struggled offensively in the first quarter giving Washington the opportunity to take control of the game.

The momentum of the game changed once Sugar Rodgers and Candice Wiggins came off the bench for the Liberty. Wiggins and Rodgers entered the second quarter dropping two threes apiece.

Wiggins was 4-of-4 from the 3-point range bringing her game total to 12 points. However, it was Rodgers who had the biggest impact on the team’s win. Rodgers went 10-of-10 from the free throw line and was the team’s second-leading scorer of the night with 20 points. Although Rodgers hasn’t had the best game stats all season long, her performance in last night’s game demonstrated the hard work she puts in when she is off the court. In a post-game interview Liberty center, Tina Charles raved about her teammates’ constant effort on and off the court.

“Sugars in the Gym 24/7, we have practice she comes back that night she never let up, she never complains, she just wants to keep getting better.” said Charles.

Rodgers wasn’t the only Liberty player who came scorching off the bench, rookie center, Kiah Stokes stepped up to the plate and solidified the team’s win after she nailed one of the most important blocks of her professional career.

New York Liberty rookie Kiah Stokes dishing out one of her famous blocks

With just seven seconds remaining and only three points separating the two teams, Washington’s secret weapon, Ivory Latta shoots for three in hopes to tie the game but Stokes deflected the shot leading to a defensive rebound by Liberty’s top vet, Tanisha Wright. Not only did Stokes save the game for the Liberty, she had a total of 13 rebounds for the night.

For the second game in a row, the Liberty’s bench has burned bright, contributing a total of 77 points for the team’s two semifinal wins. If New York wants a shot at being named the best in the East, they must keep up their momentum, as they take on the Indiana Fever in another best of three series. New York is under pressure to make history once again this season. The team has not won a conference title since 2002. The Liberty will take a shot at history tonight as they face-off against Indiana for game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:00 p.m.