Becky Hammon Shines on ABC's WNBA 10th Anniversary Game at Madison Square Garden
New York 89 - LA 79 in Overtime!
By Scott Prentice
Madison Square Gardens -- 1st Quarter started a little on the defensive with Becky missing key shots, but she still managed to score to bring the Liberty in the lead. Becky's ability in the WNBA is paled by no one.Becky’s 5 foot 6 inch height has most definitely not hindered her ability to play professional basketball.
Becky has emerged on the Women's National Basketball Association scene as one of the top players in the league, and was named to the All-WNBA Second Team in 2005 as a member of the New York Liberty A native of Rapid City, South Dakota, she was the first woman from South Dakota to play pro basketball in the United States and began her rise to stardom for the Rapid City Stevens High School Raiders.
Lisa Leslie, Becky’s nemesis on the opposing team and point score leader, was benched going into the 2nd quarter for fouls.Becky came back into the game after a short break in the first half to assist team player Shameka Christon to 24/26 lead.With one second left in the first half, LA Sparks dropped one in to bring the score to 34/30.
In the third quarter, LA did everything they could to bring the game their way.To no avail, Becky capped the third quarter with a free throw to bring the end of third quarter to a 50/48 New York lead with 14pts on her belt.
Becky was named Gatorade South Dakota Player of the Year in 1995 and South Dakota Ms. Basketball in 1994. After graduating, she decided to take her skills to ColoradoStateUniversity. Hammon led the Rams to their first NCAA Tournament appearance in 1997, beating Nebraska in the first round, and also to a Sweet Sixteen appearance in 1999, her senior year. After completing a stellar career at CSU, she finished at the top of the Rams' career record books in a majority of offensive categories including points (2,740), points per game (21.9), field goals made (918), and assists (538). She began her career with the New York Liberty in 1999 and has seen playoff action in every season with the Liberty, including two WNBA championship series' in 1999 and 2002.
Going into the fouth quarter you would think you were watching a high school girls game. Liberty was not performing as a team and major mistakes were being made across the team. But don't let the 54/54 tied game freak you out because the freak out didn't happen until the last 24 seconds of the 4th quarter. Seemingly slowly waking up to the possibility of loosing the game, Liberty put the South Dakota girl behind the ball and quickly the game began to change. At 60/59 Sparks lead. With 3:58 seconds left in the game, Hammon played great defense. Although her offensive game was really being blocked by LA's high pressure on her back and front.
Hammon scoring 14 points - Leslie 23 points. Coming down to the wire with 2 minutes on the clock liberty down by 1 point. This soon becomes a seat grabbing game. 68/65 LA 18.3 seconds left on the board. From behind New York ties the game with 4.6 seconds on the clock 68/68. Wow... what a great 24 Seconds. I'm sure that coaches will be showing this film to teams around the planet for years to come.
Overtime - Where was this Liberty team during the third quarter and first part of the fourth quarther. Back playing like professionals Hammon quickly becomes "Shining" star.
3:35: left in game 68/71 New York
3:34: 69/71 New York's Lisa Leslie -- Fouls out of Game!
3:24: LA 69 New York 73
2:51: 69/75 NY --You are starting to see that New York is going to have their first win of the season as LA's Murriel Page -- Fouled Out of Game! LA's Temeka Johson brings it to 73/77 but it doesn't stop Hammon from a great lay up to take NY to 79.
58: seconds remaining and game score shows NY winning with 75/79 score.
The winning shot delivered by NY brings the game to a 77/87 professional Game Score!
Becky Hammon with her all time high season game points at 24 leaves South Dakota's girl walking off the court as her state's winner for this 10th Aniversary Season WNBA game.
