NEW YORK (AP) -The New York Liberty got a big boost before heading out on a long road trip.
Janel McCarville scored a career-high 31 points and Shameka Christon had six of her 23 in the third overtime, lifting the Liberty to a 102-96 victory over the Indiana Fever on Thursday night.
``It helps our confidence,'' New York coach Pat Coyle said. ``A loss would have been devastating.''
Essence Carson had 18 points, Loree More added 12 and Cathrine Kraayeveld 11 to lead New York (7-6) in a game that tied for the second-longest for overtime periods in the regular season in league history. The only game that went longer was Washington's victory over Seattle in four overtimes on July 3, 2001.
``This game was very important, it will help us with our confidence level,'' Carson said. ``Right now, we know when we play together as a team good things happen.''
The Liberty play their next five games on the road, starting with a matchup at Sacramento on Saturday night, and don't return home until facing Detroit on July 12.
Ebony Hoffman scored a career-high 26 points and Tammy Sutton-Brown had career highs with 23 points and 15 rebounds for Indiana (7-7). Katie Douglas added 18 points and Tamika Catchings had 15.
Hoffman was 11-for-19 from the field, including a career-best three 3-pointers, before fouling out with about two minutes to go in the second overtime.
``Ebony's done a great job,'' Fever coach Lin Dunn said. ``She has asserted herself and been really aggressive. Losing her when she fouled out was really a big blow.''
The Liberty, who rallied from a 13-point deficit in the second quarter, were 26-for-30 from the free throw line and outrebounded the Fever 46-42. Indiana shot 12-for-17 from the line and 12-for-26 on 3-pointers.
New York, which set a franchise record for scoring in a 105-72 victory against Phoenix on Sunday, won for the second time in three games.
``Going into triple-overtime, it shows maturity,'' point guard Loree Moore said. ``All of the things we have been going through, all of the ups and downs, we really stuck together.''
After Sutton-Brown had consecutive baskets in a 33-second span to give the Fever a 96-94 lead with 2:12 left, Christon 's 3-pointer nearly a minute later started the Liberty's game-ending 8-0 run.
Kraayeveld's jumper gave New York a 92-90 lead with 1:07 left in the second overtime, but Sutton-Brown's putback with 10 seconds left tied it.
``There were times we could have folded, but we didn't,'' Coyle said. ``It was a great game ... an unbelievable game. It had a lot to do with our aggressiveness.''
Catchings, who came in averaging 8.4 points in limited minutes after missing the first eight games while recovering from an Achilles' injury, hit a 3-pointer with 4.4 seconds left in the first extra period to give the Fever an 88-87 lead. However, she was then whistled for a foul on McCarville, who missed the first free throw before hitting the second with 1 second left to send the game to a second overtime.
Hoffman and Douglas hit consecutive 3-pointers 32 seconds apart to give the Fever a 70-65 lead with 1:08 left in regulation.
McCarville hit a jumper for New York 10 seconds later, and Hoffman missed a jumper with the shot clock running down on the ensuing possession.
Carson then made a short jumper with 20.6 seconds left, but missed a potential tying free throw.
After Douglas hit two free throws 8 seconds later to push Indiana's lead to 72-69, Kraayeveld made a tying 3 from the left corner with 6.3 seconds left.
