Nolan, Shock take liberty with New York

Deanna Nolan scored 20 points and Swin Cash had season highs of 11 points and 12 rebounds to lead the Detroit Shock to a 72-67 victory over the New York Liberty last night in Auburn Hills, Mich.

Detroit, which lost by 1 at Houston and in double overtime at Charlotte in its last two games, beat the Liberty for the third time in four meetings.

Kara Braxton scored 12 for the Shock and Katie Smith added 11.

Becky Hammon led New York with 18 points, and Ann Wauters had 12 points and 11 rebounds.

New York shot 56 percent from the field and held three of Detroit's starters scoreless in taking a 35-31 halftime lead.

Smith replaced Elaine Powell in the lineup at the start of the second half -- giving Detroit five 2005 All-Stars on the court -- and the Shock went on a 19-4 run. Smith had 7 points in the run.

Lynx 76, Sparks 72 -- Kristi Harrower had a season-high 15 points for Minnesota, which snapped its five-game losing streak by beating Los Angeles in Minneapolis.

Svetlana Abrosimova added 14 points and nine rebounds for the Lynx, who led by 20 points at halftime.

Minnesota, which had a 15-0 run in the first half, led, 56-31, in the second half, but the Sparks made a late charge. Trailing by double digits with less than five minutes to play, they used a 14-1 spurt to pull within 2.

Mwadi Mabeka's uncontested layup with 12.5 seconds left cut Minnesota's lead to 74-72. Nicole Ohlde, who finished with 13 points, made a pair of free throws to seal the win.

Monarchs 55, Comets 45 -- Kara Lawson scored 13 points, including two late 3-pointers, and host Sacramento held Houston to the second-lowest point total in franchise history.

Houston was 1 for 15 from the field over the opening 12 minutes while committing nine turnovers in falling behind, 24-6.

Mystics 61, Fever 60 -- Delisha Milton-Jones and Chasity Melvin both made two free throws in the final seven seconds of Washington's win over visiting Indiana.