Kiah Stokes scores 8 blocks and Tina Charles achieves sixth double-double of the season

The NY Liberty takes the number 1 spot in the WNBA Eastern Conference after two back-to-back wins at Madison Square Garden. Liberty rookie center Kiah Stokes hit a franchise record of 8 blocks against the Connecticut Sun and Tina Charles had her sixth double-double of the season.

VIDEO: Conversation about Epiphanny Prince, Tina Charles, and Becky Hammon

Epiphany Prince rejoins the NY Liberty after missing the first 10 games of the season due to a prior commitment with Russia's National Women's Team. In her season debut with the Liberty, Prince scored a total of 12 points and had 2 assists along with 3 rebounds.

Liberty forward Tina Charles scored her 3,000th career point during a recent overtime win against the Washington Mystics. Tina also scored the game-winning shot! Go Tina!!!

Former New York Liberty guard, Becky Hammon scored another milestone. She is a coach of the San Antonio Spurs’ NBA Summer League. Hammon becomes the first woman to coach an NBA Summer League team.

New York Liberty's Tina Charles Calls Hammon a Trailblazer

The New York Liberty inducted Becky Hammon into the New York Liberty Ring of Honor on Sunday. Becky Hammon, is an assistant coach with the San Antonio Spurs and is the first woman to coach in the NBA. Hammon is the first woman to coach the winning NBA Summer League team, and she is a former guard for the New York Liberty. The New York Liberty Ring of Honor is a well-deserved honor.

Nothing can stop the New York Liberty from #BURNINGBRIGHT

The ladies of New York’s WNBA basketball team, the New York Liberty, are making strides as they begin to wrap up their regular season with just 5 games left. After defeating Minnesota 81-68, the Liberty clinched its first playoff berth since 2012. Soon after they defeated the Connecticut Sun 80-66 and became the first WNBA team to reach 20 wins this season. The last time New York reached that many wins were in 2010 when it was 22-12, which was the second-best record in the Eastern Conference. What’s amazing about this team, is that it is breaking records and making accomplishments as a unit, and individual players are setting career records and receiving league honors.

Epiphanny Prince: The Hometown Hero

Liberty guard Epiphany Prince was named Eastern Conference player of the week for the 4th time of her career, and the second time since she has joined the New York Liberty.

New York Liberty guard Epiphanny Prince defending ball against Chicago Sky.

Prince missed the first 10 games of the season due to prior obligations with the Russian National team. Nevertheless, she went straight to business once she returned to her new team, scoring 12 points off the bench in the team’s overtime win against the Washington Mystics. Since her return, Prince had just one game where she did not score in the double digits. However, she made up for the lost points when she dropped a total of 30 against her former team the Chicago Sky. Prince currently averages 15.5 points per game along with 3.5 assists and 2.9 rebounds. Prince plays a crucial role in the Liberty’s roster and it is evident that her seasoned skills on the court were the missing piece of the Liberty’s winning puzzle.

New York Liberty Rookies Rocking Records

Rookie center, Kiah Stokes is on fire!

New York Liberty's Kiah Stokes blocks Connecticut Suns' Kelsey Bones' shot 

Stokes was named the WNBA Rookie Player of the month. Aside from her rookie accomplishments, she recorded her third double-double of the season with 12 points and 10 rebounds last week in the team’s win over the Sun. Upon entering her rookie season, Stokes struggled to get into the professional flow of the game but once she did, she became unstoppable. On July 16th, she set a franchise record with 8 blocks over Connecticut. She currently is tied for fifth in blocks for the league. However she led all rookies in blocks as well as field goal percentage and rebounds, for the month of August. This month Stokes also scored a career high of 13 points in the Liberty’s 84-63 win over the Chicago Sky. Kiah is en-route to becoming one of the league’s best defenders.

Brittany Boyd is the other rookie on the team and she, too, is coming into her own and setting career highs.

New York Liberty guard Brittany Boyd

Boyd was able to snag a starting position early in the season, but she has since gone down to the bench, but that has yet to stop her from putting on a show-stopping performance. In the Liberty’s 81-76 loss against the Tulsa Shock, Boyd managed to reach her career high of 22 points and was the team’s leading scorer. This rookie is no stranger to being in a leadership position; she led the team in points back in June after dropping 18 in the Liberty’s 73-65 win over the Atlanta Dream. Boyd is a key player for the Liberty, her speed level up and down the court along with her driving force to the basket has helped her team make multiple comebacks throughout the season. Every game she shows that it is only the beginning of her soaring career.

Scorching off the Bench

Liberty veteran, Candice Wiggins has been making an incredible impact on her team in the past few games and she continues to show why she is a WNBA champion.

New York Liberty guard Candice Wiggins

Wiggins entered the season on a slow start and was not receiving much playing time. Since the first half of the season, we are now seeing a lot more action from her and are witnessing her divine accuracy from the 3-point line. Wiggins currently averages 41.9 percent from 3-point range, almost reaching her professional career best of 45.7 percent. Wiggins never fails to come with fire off the bench. Early in the season, she contributed as many as 15 points to her team’s 89-81 victory over the Chicago Sky. Wiggins seasoning as veteran adds the perfect amount of heat to the Liberty’s team chemistry.

New York has managed to pull its record to 21-8 which is currently the best-looking record in the league. None of it could have been possible if each of the Liberty’s 11 players wasn't pushing together to become the best team that it can be. New York is looked at to be one of the top contenders in the Eastern Conference Finals which creates a huge target on its back. In past seasons, the Liberty was seen as an easy win for other teams in the league and now they are considered the team to beat. The Liberty is set to scorch the court and improve their home court record at Madison Square Garden tomorrow night, against the Chicago Sky. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. eastern standard time.

Liberty’s Sugar Rodgers Much Needed Spark to Dash the Dream

Last weekend, the New York Liberty clinched its first playoff berth since the 2012 season. Being among the WNBA’s best teams comes with a price and the education continues for the Bill Laimbeer squad. Due to their current position atop of the Eastern Conference, the Liberty will receive every teams’ best shot and Monday night’s contest was no different.

The New York Liberty: New York’s Only Relevant Professional Basketball Team

New York’s only relevant professional basketball team needed overtime to outlast the Atlanta Dream yesterday evening, 80-75, and in doing so, received a strong performance from reserve guard, Sugar Rodgers. In 27 minutes of play, Rodgers led the Liberty in scoring with 23 points, a career-high and shot 5-12 from behind the arc, which included the most significant trey of the night. After trading baskets for the first three minutes of the OT period, Rodgers, drained a triple with 1:54 remaining, over the outstretched arms of Angel McCoughtry to increase the Liberty’s lead to five, 76-71.

It signaled the Liberty’s third straight win, improving its regular season record to 21-8, the best in the Eastern Conference while the Dream fell to 12-18, on the outside looking into the postseason. On a night where the Liberty didn’t play their best basketball, Rodgers bailed her team out time and time again with timely hoops. Other than her last points which sealed the Liberty’s fate, Rodgers connected on two three’s in the 4th which helped the Liberty comeback from what was a 10 point deficit late in the third quarter.

While starters Epiphanny Prince and Tanisha Wright struggled from the field, combining for 5 of 18 shooting, Rodgers contributed the scoring punch off the bench that proved to be the winning formula and head coach Laimbeer credited Rodgers performance to her improved work ethic.

Rodgers Shows Hard Work Pays Off

“She showed me that hard work pays off,” Laimbeer said following the win. “She has been in the gym night and day for the last 10 days. I sat her down and told her that she wasn’t working hard enough and somebody else was getting her minutes and she goes to the gym three times a day. It paid off; she’s a much different player today than she has been the whole season and everybody in that room was happy for her.”

Kiah Stokes WNBA Rookie of the Month Playing Like a Championship Veteran

In addition to Rodgers, Laimbeer also praised rookie Kiah Stokes who did a little bit of everything, producing a line of 10 points, 7 rebounds, 4 blocks and 4 steals. “That’s who she is, she’s just a glue player,” Laimbeer said. “Once she started playing we realized the defensive intelligence was off the charts. She’s always in position, always in help defense, can guard anybody in the gym and recovers well.”

And Laimbeer isn’t the only person who has recognized Kiah’s game. The WNBA rewarded Stokes with the Rookie of the Month Award for efforts during the month of August. In August, Stokes led the Liberty to an 8-2 record, leading all rookies in rebounds (8.3), field goal percentage (.56) and blocks (1.5). Stokes and Brittany Boyd, along with Rodgers represent the youth of the Liberty which is surrounded by a respected group of veterans and it’s one of the reasons why the Liberty is on the brink of a potential title run.

Cash, Wright and Wiggins Championship Experience Will Matter in Liberty Playoff Push

Swin Cash is a three-time WNBA Champ and Tanisha Wright and Candice Wiggins have both experienced what it’s like to stand alone on the mountain as the league’s best, capturing titles with the Seattle Storm in 2010 and the Minnesota Lynx in 2011, respectively.

Tanisha Wright New York Liberty Game on August 2, 2015. Photo by Danny Karwoski Licensed under CC BY SA 3.0 via Commons

Candice Wiggins New York Liberty game on August 2, 2015. Photo Credit: Danny Karwoski. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Commons

Having vets like Cash, Wright and Wiggins has helped the progression of the Liberty from solid WNBA squad to a consistent winner and Wiggins has enjoyed every bit of the ride thus far, even shedding light of what the Liberty must do in preparation for a deep playoff run.

“We take so much pride in working hard and pushing each other,” Wiggins shared post-game. “I’ve never personally felt this much support on a team before and it goes such a long way when you enjoy the process of getting there and you enjoy the journey and not necessarily just looking at the destination.”

And on the postseason: “We want the No.1 overall seed, we want to do our work and I know from winning a championship, it’s all about doing your work early. The more wins you can collect, then the more it will benefit you in the postseason and we don’t want to depend on anybody else but ourselves,” Wiggins continued.

With five games left on the season, there is no time for the Liberty to relax. Three of their last five games will feature other playoff teams in the Chicago Sky, Minnesota Lynx and the Indiana Fever which will all serve as the perfect tune up for what should be an exciting playoff run for the Girls of Summer.

New York Rangers to Meet Tampa Bay Lightning; Phil Jackson May Be Unhappy With Isiah Thomas’ Presence at MSG; and lots more!

Watch the video of What's The 411Sports Episode 34:

Featuring What's The 411Sports hosts Glenn Gilliam and Gregory Alcala; and special guest panelist, Jason E. Schott, Reporter/Assignment Editor at BrooklynFans.com.

What’s Poppin’

Congratulations to the owner of American Pharoah; jockey, Victor Espinosa; and of course American Pharoah for winning the Preakness on the heels of winning the Kentucky Derby. Triple Crown madness is starting already!

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The New York Rangers needed extra time to beat the Washington Capitals, 2-1, in game 7 of the 2nd of the NHL playoffs. The Rangers have advanced to play the Tampa Bay Lightning for the Eastern Conference Championship. How good are the Rangers chances to advance to the Stanley Cup Championship round?

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According to The New York Daily News, New York Knicks president, Phil Jackson, is not happy with Isiah Thomas being named president of the New York Liberty and given a stake in the women’s professional basketball team.

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NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has decided to hear New England Patriots QB-Tom Brady’s appeal regarding his four-game suspension associated with deflating footballs during the AFC Championship game against the Indianapolis Colts. However, the NFL Players Association says no way to Goodell’s reigning over the arbitration proceedings. What does this mean for Brady?

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NY Mets Manager Terry Collins speaks out. After suffering a four-game sweep by the Chicago Cubs, the Mets received a passionate speech by manager Terry Collins revolving around the issues the ball-club’s struggles as of late.

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Jason, as a reporter for www.Brooklynfans.com, you know that soccer is drawing huge crowds in New York, but like hockey, it is not a media darling. Give us a synopsis of the soccer picture in New York and what will it take for soccer to be a breakout star?

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The WNBA suspended Phoenix Mercury star Brittney Griner and her wife, Tulsa Shock Forward Glory Johnson for seven games for their roles in a domestic dispute last month. WNBA president Laurel J. Richie said in a statement on the league’s website:

"WITH CONSIDERATION OF ALL THE FACTS AND CIRCUMSTANCES OF THIS MATTER, WE ARE SUSPENDING BRITTNEY GRINER AND GLORY JOHNSON EACH WITHOUT PAY FOR A PERIOD OF SEVEN REGULAR-SEASON GAMES. BRITTNEY AND GLORY'S CONDUCT IS DETRIMENTAL TO THE BEST INTERESTS OF THE WNBA AND VIOLATES APPLICABLE LAW."

Under The Radar

The Cleveland Cavaliers won game 6 against the Chicago Bulls to advance to the eastern conference finals round and J.R. Smith took to Instagram to take a jab at the New York Knicks. Smith posted side-by-side pics of him and Iman Shumpert in both Knicks and Cavs gear stating:

“ONE MAN’S TRASH…..IS ANOTHER MANS TREASURE”

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The NCAA Men’s Basketball Rules Committee announced that it would recommend shortening the shot clock from 35 seconds to 30, increase the restricted area arc in front of the basket from three feet to four feet, and three other changes aimed at reducing timeouts.

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File this one under sports meets pop culture. While the Washington Wizards John Wall was sitting on the sideline during Game 4 against the Atlanta Hawks, J.R. Smith, who won the NBA fashion show during the NBA All-Star Week, took to twitter to comment on John Wall’s suit.

#JWall your suit tho! #Turrrbile #WorstThenCrCharlesDraftSuit

John Wall retorted according to Adam Mcginnis from truth about it:

"I LOVED MY OUTFIT IN GAME 4," WALL TOLD MCGINNIS. "I DON’T CARE WHAT DECISION NOBODY MAKES, I AM GOING TO BE ME. I AM GOING TO WEAR WHAT JOHN WALL IS COMFORTABLE WITH. THE ONLY SOMEBODY WHO SAID SOMETHING BECAUSE HE WON A FASHION CONTEST, ONCE."

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Springfield Gardens High School, the high school that the late New York Knicks player Anthony Mason attended, named its gymnasium “MASE COURT”, in his honor.

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And in memoriam, just two days after the death of pro golfer Calvin Peete, winner of the 1985 Players Champion, we have lost yet another pioneering African-American golfer.

African-American Golfer's Digest reports that Pete Brown, first black golfer to win on PGA tour, died on May 1st at 80-years old.

Brown was among those who blazed the trail for Calvin Peete and Tiger Woods.

In the Dog House

Greg Alcala stated: I picked the Cleveland Cavaliers to beat the Chicago Bulls in round 2 of the NBA playoffs, but I am putting the Chicago Bulls in the Dog House for not showing up in Game 6.

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Glenn Gilliam stated that he is putting the NFL in the Dog House. According To NJ.com, The National Guard has made deals with 14 NFL teams to honor the veterans of this country from 2011 To 2014.

According to federal contracts from the Department of Defense, the National Guard spent over $5 million to teams during that time span.

U.S. Senator Jeff Flake ripped the entire practice carried out by the National Guard.

“THOSE OF US GO TO SPORTING EVENTS AND SEE THEM HONORING THE HEROES,” SAID FLAKE. “YOU GET A GOOD FEELING IN YOUR HEART. THEN TO FIND OUT THEY’RE DOING IT BECAUSE THEY’RE COMPENSATED FOR IT, IT LEAVES YOU UNDERWHELMED. IT SEEMS A LITTLE UNSEEMLY…IT JUST LEAVES A BAD TASTE IN YOUR MOUTH.”

Pipeline:

Come cheer on KEISHER “FIRE” MCLEOD-WELLS AKA KEISHER THE BOXING DIVA, as she goes for her second professional title championship belt on Saturday, May 30, 2015 at the Resorts World Casino in Queens brought to you by New Legend Promotions.

Tickets can be purchased through www.KeisherMcleodWells.com or call Gleason's Gym AT (718) 797-2872 or (646) 537-5059

The French Open, held in Paris, France, IS May 24-June 7, so if you’re not booked already, it may be too late!

The 2015 NBA Draft is on June 25th.