Liberty look to knock off Wings again

Tina Charles and the New York Liberty aim for their fifth win in six games as they wrap up a two-game road trip against the Dallas Wings on Friday night at College Park Center in Arlington, Texas.

Charles scored a career-high 36 points on 13-of-23 shooting in the first meeting between the Liberty and Wings this season on June 2, a 93-89 win for New York (6-4). Skylar Diggins-Smith had 19 points to pace Dallas (4-7).

New York had its four-game winning streak snapped Wednesday in a 96-76 loss to the Sun in Connecticut. Charles, the reigning Eastern Conference Player of the Week, had a team-high 17 points while moving into 24th place on the WNBA's all-time scoring list.

The Liberty fell behind 24-12 early and never led, trailing by 24 points early in the fourth quarter.

"We have to be mentally focused, more focused from the start of the game," said New York's Shavonte Zellous, who added 16 points. "(We need to ) guard the penetration, rebound it. We didn't do a great job of that (Wednesday)."

Dallas has dropped five of its last six games after a 97-87 loss to the defending champion Sparks on Tuesday in Los Angeles. Diggins-Smith scored 28 and Glory Johnson added 10 points and 10 rebounds.

The Wings were done in by a slow start, being outscored 23-8 in the first quarter. Dallas made just 4 of 17 shots from the floor in the quarter.

Dallas, which shocked Los Angeles with a 96-90 win at home last Friday, made a late charge to pull within single digits in the fourth quarter but couldn't close the gap.

"We scored 35 points in the fourth against (Los Angeles) the last time we played them and then also (Tuesday), but they got well-balanced scoring," Wings coach Fred Williams said.

Williams added, "That's hard to stop. It's almost like going against the Golden State Warriors."

The Liberty and Wings conclude their three-game season series in the regular-season finale on Sept. 3 in Dallas.