(1) Connecticut Sun		(1) Sacramento Monarchs
SCHEDULE Gm 1: at Conn, Weds., 9/14, 8 p.m. ET. ESPN2 Gm 2: at Conn., Thurs., 9/15, 8 p.m. ET. ESPN2 Gm 3: at Sac., Sun., 9/18, 4 p.m. ET. ABC Gm 4*: at Sac., Tues., 9/20, TBD p.m. ET. ESPN2 Gm 5*: at Conn., Thurs., 9/22, 7:30 p.m. ET. ESPN2
2005 Regular Season: Connecticut Sun 2, Sacramento Monarchs 0
Connecticut 61, Sacramento 50		Connecticut 70, Sacramento 66
One of the deepest, most balanced teams in history, four Sun players averaged better than 11.0 ppg this season: Nykesha Sales, Taj McWilliams-Franklin, Lindsay Whalen and Katie Douglas. The Sun had winning streaks of eight games, six games, four games and three games (twice) this season. They only lost back-to-back games twice, both times to New York and Indiana. Monarchs guard Ticha Penicheiro became the all-time WNBA career assist leader during the 2004 season, eclipsing the mark held previously held by Teresa Weatherspoon, who also happens to be the all-time career assist leader in the playoffs. DeMya Walker was the team's leading scorer with 14.1 ppg and second-leading rebounder with 5.3 RPG, but that came in only 22 games this season. Talk about a pair of fast-improving sophs, Nicole Powell is a leading candidate for Most Improved Player after being traded to the Monarchs in the off-season, finishing with 11 points per game. Meanwhile, Brunson started in 16 games and averaged nearly 8 ppg and 5.6 RPG.
SUN 2005 Roster NUM PLAYER POS HT WT DOB   FROM YRS 10 Jamie Carey G 5-6 135 03/12/1981   Texas R 34 Jennifer Derevjanik G 5-10 140 03/29/1982   George Mason '04 1 32 Katie Douglas G-F 6-0 165 05/07/1979   Purdue '01 4 12 Margo Dydek C 7-2 223 04/28/1974   Poland 7 15 Asjha Jones F 6-2 198 08/01/1980   Connecticut '02 3 11 Taj McWilliams-Franklin F-C 6-2 184 10/20/1970   St. Edward's '93 6 42 Nykesha Sales F-G 6-0 184 05/10/1976   Connecticut '98 6 14 Laura Summerton C 6-2 167 12/13/1983   Australia R 13 Lindsay Whalen G 5-8 150 05/09/1982   Minnesota '04 1 43 Le'coe Willingham F 6-0 200 02/10/1981   Auburn '04 1 21 Brooke Wyckoff F 6-1 183 03/30/1980   Florida State '01 3                 HEAD COACH Mike Thibault (College - St. Martin's '79) ASSISTANT COACHES Scott Hawk (College - Nebraska-Omaha) Bernadette Mattox (College - Georgia) STRENGTH-AND-CONDITIONING COACH Lisa Ciaravella (College - Elon) ATHLETIC TRAINER Georgia Fischer (College - Illinois '89)
MONARCH 2005 Roster NUM PLAYER POS HT WT DOB   FROM YRS 32 Rebekkah Brunson F 6-3 175 12/11/1981   Georgetown '04 1 11 Erin Buescher G 6-2 181 06/05/1979   The Master's College '01 3 33 Yolanda Griffith C-F 6-4 175 03/01/1970   Florida Atlantic '93 6 4 Kristin Haynie G 5-8 147 06/17/1983   Michigan State R 20 Kara Lawson G 5-8 160 02/14/1981   Tennessee '03 2 9 Hamchetou Maiga G-F 6-1 160 04/25/1978   Old Dominion '01 3 2 Chelsea Newton G 5-11 150 02/17/1983   Rutgers R 21 Ticha Penicheiro G 5-11 158 09/18/1974   Old Dominion '98/Portugal 7 14 Nicole Powell G-F 6-2 170 06/22/1982   Stanford '04 1 0 Olympia Scott-Richardson C-F 6-2 175 08/05/1976   Stanford '98 6 22 DeMya Walker F 6-4 168 11/28/1977   Virginia '99 5                 HEAD COACH John Whisenant (College - New Mexico State '66) ASSISTANT COACHES Tom Abatemarco (College - Dowling College '77) Steve Shuman (College - Sacramento State '89) Monique Ambers (College - Arizona State '93) ATHLETIC TRAINER Jill Jackson (College - Sacramento State '87)

 

Monarch Playoff Statistics               REBOUNDS   Player G GS MPG FGP 3PP FTP OFF DEF TOT APG SPG BPG TO PF PPG Yolanda Griffith 4 4 30.8 .490 .000 .778 2.50 4.25 6.75 1.5 1.25 .50 .75 2.25 16.0 Kara Lawson 4 2 26.3 .447 .526 .833 .50 4.50 5.00 3.0 1.00 .00 2.25 1.50 12.3 DeMya Walker 2 0 26.5 .643 .000 .750 2.50 1.50 4.00 3.5 .00 .00 3.50 3.50 12.0 Ticha Penicheiro 2 2 32.0 .538 .000 .889 .50 4.00 4.50 7.5 2.00 .00 2.50 2.50 11.0 Nicole Powell 4 4 30.3 .400 .412 1.000 .25 1.75 2.00 2.5 .75 .00 2.25 2.75 9.3 Rebekkah Brunson 4 4 26.3 .517 .000 .286 1.75 4.25 6.00 1.3 .75 .75 1.25 3.25 8.0 Chelsea Newton 4 4 26.8 .458 1.000 .625 .50 1.00 1.50 1.0 .25 .00 1.75 2.25 7.3 Hamchetou Maiga 4 0 13.5 .579 .000 .667 .75 1.50 2.25 .8 .50 .75 1.50 3.00 6.5 Kristin Haynie 4 0 12.8 .556 .000 .500 .25 1.25 1.50 .5 .75 .00 .75 1.25 3.0 Erin Buescher 2 0 5.5 .000 .000 .500 .50 1.00 1.50 1.0 .00 .50 .50 .00 1.5 Olympia Scott-Richardson 4 0 7.8 .500 .000 .500 .25 1.00 1.25 1.3 .00 .25 .75 2.00 1.3 Team Totals 4   206.2  .494 .463 .700 8.5 22.8 31.2 17.8 6.2 2.5 15.0 21.0 75.8 Opponents 4     .441 .370 .691 8.0 16.0 24.0 15.2 7.8 3.0 15.5 19.0 67.2