Following an 11-23 campaign in 2006, the New York Liberty needed to make changes. They needed something to go right. Now, one year later, they are off to a 5-0 start and can’t seem to do anything wrong.

"We've been playing really well together as a team," forward Catherine Kraayeveld said to reporters following the team’s last game. "When we buckle down and play great defensively as a team, it seems to fuel our offense and gets us a couple of easy baskets in transition.”

Teamwork and balance has been the key for a team that completely turned over its roster in the off-season.

The team traded its star player, Becky Hammon, in an attempt to rebuild the struggling roster. The All-Star point guard was traded for the second overall pick in the 2007 WNBA draft, center Jessica Davenport.

Davenport played her college basketball for Ohio State. She was a key contributor to a 29-3 season for the Buckeyes and a number one seed in the 2007 Women’s NCAA tournament.

Through five games with the Liberty, she has developed into a consistent force in the low post averaging 9.4 points and 3.4 rebounds per game. She even converted a three point play with 6.9 seconds on June 3 to give the team their fifth win of the season over the Phoenix Mercury.

"I didn't know what to do with myself. I kind of stood there for a second and everybody started jumping around," the 6-5 Davenport told reporters of the tying basket. "We've been working on free throws a lot lately. This feels good to go out there and knock it down for the game-winner."

Kraayefeld has taken over Hammon’s role as the team’s main scorer as she has led the team’s attack in three of the first five games. Her 14.4 points per game and 7.4 rebounds per game make her one of the league most efficient players.

The second year player from Oregon is part of a young core, Along with Davenport, Shameka Christon, and Erin Thorn, that the Liberty hope can stay together for the foreseeable future.

Christon was selected fifth overall by the Liberty in 2004 WNBA draft. She saw limited action in 2004 and 2005 before gaining a starting role in ’06. She averaged 12.4 points per game and was a bright spot during an otherwise dismal season. The guard has averaged 11.4 points and four rebounds a game over the first five games of the 2007 season.

Thorn was selected in the second round of the ’03 draft by the Liberty and is the senior member of the Liberty’s starting lineup. Playing her college ball at Brigham Young University, she held the schools record for career three-pointers. She has seen an increasing role each year for New York while coming off the bench. In 2006, she averaged 14 minutes a game, and 6.1 points. She also showed promise by ranking first in league in three-point percentage at .421.

However, she has enjoyed breakout success in the first part of 2007, leading the team with 14.8 points per game, including a career high 28 point outburst in the season opener against the Chicago Sky. In her first season starting, Thorn also leads the league in three-point percentage again, with an astonishing rate of .600. Just behind her is fellow Liberty guard Loree Moore.

Thorn is one the players who was forced to step up when Hammon was lost for the second half of last season with an ankle injury. The Liberty wound up winning seven of their last 10 games. Coach Pat Coyle believes this has lead to her team’s success this year.

"Everybody knew they had to bring something different," she said to WNBA.com. "They had to increase their game a little bit more... add something to their game, bring a little more than what they did before because the roles were going to change. I think everybody has elevated their game to another level."

However, none of the Liberty is satisfied with being halfway to last season’s win total. The team will be facing the defending champion Detroit Shock on Friday. Many consider the Shock the first real test of the upstart Liberty’s progress.

"I think it’s going to be another test for us to see what we need to do and how we are as a team," she said to reporters. "We need to handle their physical play. Because they are a physical team, they’re going to try to bully us and get in our heads. And we’re going to have to handle it."

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