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NEW YORK (Ticker) -- The New York Liberty held the Charlotte Sting without a basket for nearly 12 1/2 minutes in the first half en route to their fourth straight win, 84-70. Vickie Johnson scored 19 points and Becky Hammon added 16 for New York, which also has won four in a row at home. All-Star starter Teresa Weatherspoon contributed 10 points and seven assists and keyed the decisive first-half run for the Liberty. After Tracy Reid made a layup with 15:55 left in the opening half, the Sting did not score again from the field until she converted another layup with 3:31 to go before halftime. "We did not shoot well. We did not have a good shooting percentage tonight," said Charlotte center Rhonda Mapp. "I think we stopped them on defense a lot, just as in previous games. We did not shoot well tonight." Cass Bauer made two free throws to lift Charlotte within 7-6, but New York scored the next nine points to pull away. Neither team made a shot for more than 3 1/2 minutes until rookie Marina Ferragut nailed a jumper from the left corner. She followed with an 18-footer before Weatherspoon hit a 15-footer and a 3-pointer for a 16-6 lead with 10:02 left in the first half. The Liberty shot 44 percent (15-of-34) from the field in the first half, held the Sting to 17 percent (5-of-29) and took a 38-20 lead into intermission. "They had some nice easy shots that they missed. We're playing good defense and also they were missing," said All-Star starting forward Sue Wicks. "I think they have very talented players. (Andrea) Stinson's known for making wild shots go in." New York twice led by 32 points in the second half and coasted to the win in the first meeting with Charlotte since the Eastern Conference finals. The Sting got no closer than 13 points down the stretch. Stinson led all scorers with 21 points for the Sting, who have lost four straight and nine of their last 10 games. She was named as an All-Star reserve earlier today. "It's our year (for things to go badly)," Stinson said. "You know we're playing hard, but we just can't put our hand on it. We're going to keep playing hard every night and do our best." Reid and Dawn Staley each added 13 points for Charlotte, which shot 35.5 percent (22-of-62) overall and was outrebounded, 40-30. New York All-Star forward Tari Phillips was held to nine points, missing a free throw with 2 1/2 minutes remaining that would have extended her double-digit scoring streak to nine games.
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