Thursday, July 30, 2009

Best Fourth Quarter/Overtime Performers



Well, Swanny's Stats has done it again. This time, he's given us a list of the best - and worst - performers of the WNBA in the fourth quarter or overtime.

In terms of fourth quarter/overtime points, Nicole Powell of the Monarchs leads all players with 114 points. (You'd think that Angel McCoughtry would be on that list, but no.) Sancho Lyttle is tied for 9thh in the WNBA so far this year with 77 points, along with Shameka Christon of the Liberty.

In terms of highest field goal percentage, we have not one but two players in the top ten. For those players with 30 fourth quarter/overtime field goal attempts, Nicky Anosikie is first with a 60 percent shooting percentage - but Erika de Souza is 5th at 56.3 percent and Sancho Lyttle is 6th at 55.6 percent.

Unfortunately, we have a member of the Dream in the bottom ten in fourth quarter/overtime field goal percentage. Angel McCoughtry is 7th at 35.1 percent, going 20-for-57 in fourth quarter shooting. At the bottom? Deanna Nolan of the Shock only shoots 21.4 percent in the fourth quarter.

As for free throw attempts, there are four players who haven't missed a fourth quarter free throw (minimum 10 attempts) - Shavonte Zellous, Nicole Powell, Essence Carson and Candice Dupree. Tamika Catchings of the Fever leads all players in fourth quarter free throw attempts with 37.

Who has the highest 3-point percentage in the fourth quarter (minimum 5 attempts)? Ebony Hoffman of the Fever has taken 8 fourth-quarter 3s and has hit 6 of them, for a 75 percent accuracy rate.

In fourth quarter rebounds, Crystal Langhorne of the Mystics is the leader with 38 - but Erika de Souza has 33 final quarter rebounds for 3rd place in the WNBA.

Who has the most assists? Cappie Pondexter of the Mercury leads that list with 26 fourth quarter assists. Looks like the Dream will find out how good she is tonight.

Maybe Angel McCoughtry isn't the most accurate fourth quarter shooter, but defensively, it's a different story. McCoughtry is tied for 3rd place with Tamika Catchings of the Fever for most fourth quarter steals with 10. Nicky Anosike of the Lynx and Tanisha Wright of the Storm are in first place with 11 steals each.

Lauren Jackson of the Storm leads the WNBA in fourth quarter blocked shots with 8 blocks.

"Most turnovers" is a misleading stat, because there are certain people who are always going to have the ball in the fourth quarter, and those players tend to be good. Tied for first is Lindsey Harding of the Mystics and Candice Wiggins of the Lynx with 16 fourth quarter turnovers - but Sue Bird and Cappie Pondexter are right behind them with 15 turnovers.

Part of the reason Lindsey Harding's fourth quarter turnovers are so high is because she leads in the category of most minutes played in the fourth quarter with 161. In 10th place is Sancho Lyttle. Lyttle has played 139 fourth quarter minutes.

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