Detroit's starters came up big and took over in overtime to help the Shock win their fourth in a row 87-82, this time over the visiting Liberty.

Cheryl Ford scored 19 and grabbed 18 boards and Deanna Nolan scored 21 to pace the defending champs. But Laimbeer had to play his starters more minutes than he would've liked. "That's going to catch up to us," Laimbeer said. "I've got to stop that."

This was the second time in a row the Shock and Liberty have gone to overtime, but Laimbeer sensed something was different this time. "I could see it in everyone's eyes. Our antennas went up, and it was like, 'This is not going to be the same overtime that happened last time."

Janel McCarville once again had a solid game agains the Shock and had four teammates join her in double figures, but the Lib could not keep up in OT. "You judge yourself against the best, and we played with one of the best teams today," said McCarville.