Dream spoils Donovan's debut as interim coach of Liberty

ATLANTA — Chamique Holdsclaw scored 12 of her 18 points in the second half as the Atlanta Dream spoiled Anne Donovan's debut as New York's interim coach with an 89-83 victory over the Liberty on Saturday night.

Angel McCoughtry and Iziane Castro Marques had 16 points each to help the Dream (10-10) win its franchise-record third straight. McCoughtry also had seven steals.

Shameka Christon scored 23 points for the Liberty (6-12), which lost its season-high fourth straight one day after firing Pat Coyle as coach. Janel McCarville and Loree Moore had 14 points each and Essence Carson added 12.

New York led 54-47 midway through the third quarter. Atlanta then went on a 27-10 run fueled by steal after steal to go up 74-64 early in the fourth. The Liberty got no closer than four the rest of the way.

Donovan won two Olympic gold medals as a player and coached the U.S. women to the gold medal at Beijing last year. She was 138-128 previously while coaching Indiana, Charlotte and Seattle, and led the Storm to the league title in 2004.

Other games

Mercury 87, at Lynx 74

Diana Taurasi scored 20 points, Cappie Pondexter had 17 as Phoenix recovered from its biggest loss of the season to beat Minnesota.

The Western Conference-leading Mercury (15-6), which lost by 30 at Atlanta on Thursday, got off to a fast start against the Lynx.

Taurasi scored 17 in the first half on 7-of-8 shooting and hit a buzzer-beating shot from three-quarters court at the end of the first half to give Phoenix a 47-24 lead at the break.

Rookie Quanitra Hollingsworth had a season-high 17 points and Candice Wiggins scored 14 points for the Lynx (10-10), which has lost five of six.

At Sky 84, Sun 72

Candice Dupree scored 20 of her 23 points in the first half to lead Chicago over Connecticut.

Jia Perkins scored 16 points, Dominique Canty and Erin Thorn had 11 each and Shyra Ely added 10 for the Sky (10-10). Canty also had two steals to reach 300 for her career.

Tan White scored 16 points, Anete Jekabsone-Zogota had 12 and Asjha Jones 10 for the Sun (9-9).

Sparks 59, at Monarchs 56

Candace Parker had 13 points and 12 rebounds, and DeLisha Milton-Jones also scored 13 points in Los Angeles' victory over Sacramento.

With the Sparks (6-10) clinging to a one-point lead and scoreless for over five minutes, Parker broke free for a lob under the basket. The shot put the Sparks ahead 57-54 with 25.5 seconds left.

Tina Thompson had 10 points for the Sparks.

Nicole Powell had 18 points for the Monarchs (5-16).