WNBA : Liberty Fights Off Elimination

NEW YORK — Kym Hampton knew the Charlotte Sting were going to make a run at the New York Liberty in an attempt to reach the WNBA finals for the first time.

Hampton was right and her three baskets over the final three minutes led the Liberty to a 74-70 victory over the Sting on Sunday night, evening the WNBA Eastern Conference finals series.

The decisive game in the best-of-three series will be played today in New York.

With the score tied, 65-65, Hampton came up big.

“I said to myself, ‘We’ve been here before, so come on, let’s pull away,’ ” she said. “You don’t even get worried anymore. We just make sure that we go basket for basket and come up with the baskets that count.”

Teresa Weatherspoon led New York with 19 points on eight-of-12 shooting as the Liberty shot an Eastern Conference playoff-record 55% from the field before a crowd of 13,510 at Madison Square Garden.

Andrea Stinson had 27 points for Charlotte.