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Detroit Shock defeat Connecticut in overtime
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Detroit's Alexis Hornbuckle (right) knocks the ball away from Connecticut's Asjha Jones.
Hornbuckle scored 11 points and won a key jump ball in overtime to set up Katie
Smith's winning hoop. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)
The Detroit Shock’s injury woes continued Saturday but their two-game losing streak did not as Detroit edged host Connecticut in overtime, 79-77. The Shock, who’d won just once in their last seven games, improved to 3-7 while the Sun fell to 5-6.
Deanna Nolan missed the game due to a hamstring injury. Shock coach Rick Mahorn started newly-acquired Anna DeForge at guard, along with fellow vet Kristin Haynie, although Alexis Hornbuckle and rookie Shavonte Zellous saw plenty of action. Connecticut forward Tamika Whitmore also missed the game, with a calf injury, ending Whitmore’s WNBA-best 204 consecutive game streak.
The contest was evenly-matched with neither team leading by more than seven points. There were 17 lead changes and the game was tied 16 times.
Connecticut took a 12-6 lead courtesy of a pair of three-pointers but Shock had a six-point run to tie the game at 12 with 3:28 left in the quarter. It was 15-15 before Kiesha Brown hit a free throw to send the Sun into the second period with a 16-15 edge. The teams traded leads in the second quarter, with each team enjoying brief three-point advantages. An Olayinka Sanni free throw completed the first-half scoring and left the squads tied at 32.
The lead continued to see-saw in the third period with the Shock leading by as many as four. Again, a last-minute free throw, this one by Asjha Jones, gave the Sun a 50-49 edge entering the fourth quarter. A 6-0 Connecticut run capped by four consecutive Sun free throws (two on technical fouls) gave the hosts their largest lead, 56-49, with 8:12 left in regulation time. Connecticut led 63-58 after a Jones jumper with 5:27 remaining in the period, but the Suns didn’t hit a shot from the field for the rest of the quarter.
Neither team scored over the next 3:16, after which a Katie Smith jumper and a pair of Kara Braxton free throws pulled the Shock within 63-62 with 1:47 left. Lindsay Whalen then sank two free throws but the Shock nailed five of six free throws in a 30-second span to take a 67-65 lead with 11.2 seconds left. Hornbuckle then fouled Tan White with two seconds left and White sank both shots to force overtime.
Overtime was no different than regulation as neither team could pull away. The advantage went from the Shock (74-71 with 3:03 left) to the Sun (77-76 with 56 seconds remaining). A Braxton free throw made it 77-all with 43.8 seconds left. Hornbuckle tied up Jones and forced a jump ball with 28 seconds remaining, then Hornbuckle won the tap. After a timeout the Shock ran the clock down to 6.3 seconds when Smith popped a pull-up jumper. Cheryl Ford blocked a White jumper with 3.4 seconds left, the Sun grabbed the ball but Whalen’s last-ditch shot missed at the buzzer.
Katie Smith led all scorers with 25 points. Braxton had 14 points and 13 rebounds off bench in just 17 minutes of action. Hornbuckle contributed 11 points and three steals while Ford had nine points and 12 rebounds. DeForge, acquired mainly as a long-distance weapon, didn’t attempt a triple and scored just two points. But she played 37:40, grabbed eight rebounds and added two assists as she began to blend in with her new team. Jones led Connecticut with 23 points and 10 rebounds. Read the complete box score. The offensive team statistics were about even but the Shock held a 63-47 rebounding advantage.
The Shock continue their four-game road trip at Seattle Wednesday.
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