NEW YORK (AP) - Bill Laimbeer thinks his Liberty could be a WNBA title contender. After a lackluster effort in the season opener, he let his team know it was unacceptable.
Tina Charles scored 12 points and Epiphanny Prince had 11 to help the New York Liberty beat the short-handed San Antonio Stars 73-64 on Saturday in the season opener for both teams.
“I hope this is the worst game we play all year. It was awful,” the veteran coach said. “We didn’t execute the things we were supposed to. We didn’t box out, gave up way too many offensive rebounds. Missed free throws all over the place. … Collectively top to bottom I thought this was about as worse an effort they could have put forth and I told them so in very strong language.”
New York was facing a San Antonio team that was missing its starting backcourt, including top draft pick Kelsey Plum, who sprained her right ankle last week. She was still in a walking boot and the team is hopeful she’ll be back soon. San Antonio also was missing Moriah Jefferson. The No. 2 pick in last season’s draft was sidelined with right knee soreness.
“We can’t play like that and compete for a championship and I told them so,” Laimbeer said.
Charles echoed her coach’s sentiment.
“I’m very happy Bill did that,” the Liberty’s star forward said. “I’ve been waiting for him to do that the last three or four years I’ve been here. Just the fact his sense of urgency and his confidence in us as individuals gains more respect in him. He’s willing to correct us because he believes we can get it done.”
Prince sparked the Liberty, who turned an 11-9 advantage into a 37-28 halftime lead. New York slowly pulled away in the third quarter, scoring seven straight points to go up 50-35 on Shavonte Zellous’ layup off a nifty length of the court pass from Brittany Boyd. The lead grew to 17 at the end of the third quarter before San Antonio cut it to nine on Monique Currie’s three-point play midway through the fourth quarter.
Boyd then had four straight points and the Stars couldn’t get within nine the rest of the way.
Currie had 23 points to lead the Stars and Isabelle Harrison added 15.
The game marked the head coaching debut of Vickie Johnson, who started her career in New York as a player when the WNBA debuted in 1997. She spent nine years in New York before going to San Antonio as a player. She then became an assistant coach for the Stars before being promoted before this season.
“I thought it was good,” Johnson said of the opener. “I thought if we could have made some free throws we would have won. We worked hard as a team. Defensively we had a couple breakdowns.”
TIP-INS:
SIDELINED: Plum said she’s feeling better after stepping on a male practice player’s foot and injuring her right ankle.
“I feel good, it’s tough as I was really looking forward to (playing),” she said. “It was a freak thing that happened in practice. I never missed a game in my college career. It’s frustrating, but I know it’s not short-term, it’s long term. Moriah’s out too. We’ll get our pieces back. I’m trying to be patient, but it’s not a good virtue of mine. I’m walking around in rehab doing different stuff. Swimming twice a day.”
Johnson said that neither Plum nor Jefferson will play in Washington on Sunday.
STARS: Johnson starred for the Liberty from 1997-2005 and is the team’s career leader in scoring (3,246), rebounding (1,053) and games (282). New York honored her with a video tribute midway through the second quarter. Johnson cracked a smile coming out of the timeout and waved to the fans. … San Antonio was 17 for 29 from the free throw line.
LIBERTY: New York was picked third in the preseason AP WNBA power poll . … The Liberty have won three consecutive home openers.
UP NEXT:
New York hosts Minnesota on Thursday.
San Antonio completes a back-to-back in Washington on Sunday.
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