Seattle 84, New York 71
SEATTLE, July 3 (AP) -- Lauren Jackson scored 23 of her season-high 33 points in the first half Thursday night to lead the Seattle Storm to an 84-71 win over the New York Liberty.
Sue Bird scored a season-high 23 points and had six assists for Seattle (10-7), which won for the third win in four games overall and improved to 9-1 at home.
"You're talking about two great players and that's what you expect from great players,'' New York coach Pat Coyle said of Jackson and Bird. "I thought they were terrific.''
Shameka Christon had 19 points and rookie Essence Carson added 16 to lead New York (8-8), which has lost six of eight on the road. Liberty center Janel McCarville injured a finger in the first half and played only eight minutes.
Seattle's Yolanda Griffith picked up her 500th career steal in the first quarter.
Bird scored 10 points in the fourth quarter to help hold off a late New York rally. Seattle led by as many as 20 points in the third quarter but the Liberty cut a 19-point fourth-quarter deficit to seven points with 3:40 remaining.
Jackson scored 12 points in the first quarter and 11 in the second, hitting 9-of-13 from the field in the first half.
"We talked about 10 days ago about getting more of a balance from her inside and out,'' Seattle coach Brian Agler said of Jackson. "Obviously, she's a great 3-point shooter. But she's also awfully tough with her back to the basket. She's starting to buy into that and really doing a great job. She's one of the best.''
The Storm held a 51-38 lead at halftime.
Bird had 11 points and four assists as Seattle set a season high for scoring in the first half on 21-for-35 shooting -- 60 percent. Seattle shot 47 percent for the game.
"The pick-and-roll is something we run a lot,'' Bird said of her play with Jackson. "They kind of have to pick their poison on those pick-and-rolls. Who are they going to leave open, Lauren or myself? I was hitting some shots, so I wanted to just keep taking them and taking them.''
"Sue had a great night,'' Agler said. "I was waiting for a night like this because she's been shooting a lot better.''
Jackson shot 12-for-20 from the field and had seven rebounds and two blocked shots.
"I tried to push it inside, Brian's really been stressing that,'' Jackson said. "I was trying to get in there and get my confidence back with that part of my game. Hopefully, I can continue to play like that.''
Christon said New York should have played better defense against Jackson and Bird.
"Defense is all about wanting to stop the player more than they want to score,'' Christon said. "They're great players, I'm not going to take that away from them, but I think that we could've been a lot better on defense.''
Kristen O'Neill, a former University of Washington player, made her regular-season debut for the Storm in the third quarter. Seattle signed O'Neill to a seven-day contract on Tuesday.
