UpdatedJun 5, 2012 10:22 PM ET <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
After the New York Liberty lost their first five games of the season, All-Star guard Cappie Pondexter found herself in totally unfamiliar territory. <\/p>\n
''Being 0-5, I never experienced that before anywhere in any part of my career,'' Pondexter said. ''It was awful. I knew we had to turn things around.'' <\/p>\n
Pondexter scored 26 points to lead the Liberty to their second straight win, a 79-74 victory over the Atlanta Dream on Tuesday night. <\/p>\n
Pondexter took it upon herself to carry the Liberty to the victory, making clutch shots in the fourth quarter. Her driving goal with 8:29 left gave the Liberty the lead for good and her three-point play with 4:36 left pushed the lead to 70-66. <\/p>\n
''We had to refocus the last couple of days after we lost five in a row,'' said Pondexter, who had nine points in the final period. ''It was just a case of me being aggressive. The important thing for us is to focus on what we need to do to win.'' <\/p>\n
Leilani Mitchell added 18 points in the victory. <\/p>\n
''Of course, we knew we were a better team than 0-5,'' Mitchell said. ''But it's a long season and the league is so good. Any game could go either way. It was very frustrating to lose those five games, but we had to remain positive.'' <\/p>\n
Atlanta dropped to 2-4 after losing its second straight contest <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
More: <\/p>\n
Liberty 79, Dream 74<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" UpdatedJun 5, 2012 10:22 PM ET After the New York Liberty lost their first five games of the season, All-Star guard Cappie Pondexter found herself in totally unfamiliar territory. ''Being 0-5, I never experienced that before anywhere in any part of my career,'' Pondexter said. Continue reading