FLUSHING MEADOWS, NY - The fancy commemorative logo at center court called the game a classic. But the Liberty couldn’t translate its recent success from the indoor arena to the great outdoors, ending a week’s worth of hype for the Outdoor Classic with a 71-55 loss to the Indiana Fever at Arthur Ashe Stadium.

A near sell-out crowd of 19,393 witnessed the first outdoor regular season game in North American professional basketball history.  But  the fans (generously listed since thousands of empty seats remained attip-off) also saw the Fever snap the Liberty’s three-game winning streak after New York shot 28.6 percent from the field. Liberty coach Pat Coyle said that was the deciding factor.

“Any time you shoot like that, I don’t even have to look at the game tape,” Coyle said. “That just tells me we didn’t execute at all.”

Fireworks exploded from the world’s largest outdoor tennis venue following the national anthem. All the ceremonies and pregame entertainment marked the highlight of the evening for the Liberty, which never posted a lead.

Janel McCarville scored 10 points, making her the only Liberty in double figures. On defense, the Liberty couldn’t do enough to curtail Indiana’s Katie Douglas, who poured in a game-high 20 points, including two three pointers. Tamika Catchings added 15 points and finished one rebound shy of a double-double.

“We let too many things affect us,” Coyle said. “I don’t mean the outside stuff. I mean the stuff on the court. It’s disappointing. They did a lot of switching and through us off.”

Indiana shutdown the Liberty in the opening quarter, holding the home team to a paltry 18.8 shooting percentage as just three of the opening 16 field goal attempts connected. Coyle and her players brushed off the idea that the heat contributed to the poor start.

“I think fatigue is kind of an excuse,” Liberty forward Cathrine Kraayeveld said. “You have to be able to push through that at this level. Our season is short and we have a lot of games in a short period of time. A lot of it is mental. If you’re tired, too bad.”

The floor, transported from Madison Square Garden to the site of tennis’ U.S. Open, gave the stadium a unique look as the game became the first non-tennis sporting event to take place at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. A 17-7 third-quarter run put the game away for Indiana, and the Liberty hurt its own chances by turning the ball over 22 times.

“It’s definitely disappointing. We made a lot of mistakes throughout the whole game,” said Liberty leading scorer Shameka Christon, who has held scoreless in the first quarter and finished with nine points on 2-13 shooting. “I’m not giving the environment any credit as to why we played the way we played tonight.”

High-ranking league officials and local celebrities like the Knicks’ David Lee and Boomer Esiason were in attendance, along with an expanded media row for the event. The buzz before the game dissipated slightly after Indiana jumped to an 18-8 lead entering the second quarter. As the clock ticked down in the fourth quarter, many of the blue seats in the upper levels of the 22,547-seat stadium were empty.

The sky was clear in Flushing Meadows and the remaining crowd was rewarded with a postgame concert from Menudo. ESPN televised the contest nationally and portions from the night's proceeds are earmarked to the non-profit Breast Cancer Research Foundation.

Inside the posh dressing rooms of Arthur Ashe stadium, which resembles a massage parlor in a five-star hotel, the players talked about the game’s ability to showcase the WNBA’s talent.

“We had a lot of fans out there and maybe a lot of people who had never been to a woman’s basketball game before,” Kraayeveld said. “It’s a great opportunity to get more exposure, not just for us, but for the league and show everyone that women’s basketball can be fun and exciting to watch.”

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