The 2007 Monarchs season had a different look. It all started with new jerseys, then a new coach and a new starting line-up. The team faced difficult obstacles and too many injuries to count, but their ability to remain a team never faded. The 2007 Monarchs team was different in many ways, but through all of the changes, one thing remained: the desire to win.

Off-season Changes

Yolanda Griffith speaks with Head Coach Jenny Boucek

The 2006 off-season was one of the busiest for the Monarchs in years. Immediately following the 2006 season, Monarchs Head Coach John Whisenant made the difficult decision to step down from his coaching duties while continuing his role as general manager. His first off-season task was to find his replacement. Whiz wasted no time in finding first-year Head Coach Jenny Boucek. On November 15, 2006, the Monarchs formally announced that Boucek would take over and lead the 2007 Monarchs team. A former player for the Cleveland Rockers, Boucek came from a strong assistant coaching background that included a championship ring with the Seattle Storm in 2004. After accepting the head coaching position, she became the first person in the WNBA to be a player, assistant coach and head coach. Whiz showed great confidence in his successor saying, �I have been looking for a bright and aggressive coach and I believe we have found that person.�

With the head coaching position in place, Whiz and Coach Boucek set out to build a roster that could take the Monarchs deep into the post-season. Early on, they lost Erin Buescher and Hamch�tou Ma�ga-Ba to free agency. In order to fill those voids, the Monarchs acquired La�Tangela Atkinson, a second-year forward, from the Indiana Fever and Adrian Williams, a center in her seventh year in the league, from the Minnesota Lynx.

The pieces seemed to be coming together, but the best off-season move was yet to come. On March 23, 2007, the Monarchs announced that they had acquired guard Chelsea Newton from the Chicago Sky in exchange for their 2007 first-round draft pick. The trade would bring the defensive specialist, who helped the Monarchs win their first WNBA Championship in 2005, back to Sacramento. With the championship starting line-up back in place, the team was ready to start the regular season.

2007 Regular Season

The Monarchs gather before a game

The Monarchs regular season tipped off on Saturday, May 19, in Detroit in a rematch of the 2006 WNBA Finals. It was a closely contested game, but in the end Detroit finished with the �W�, 75-68. The Monarchs continued on the road for three more games, winning their next two against the Minnesota Lynx and the Washington Mystics. At the last stop on the road trip the Monarchs faced the Phoenix Mercury. Diana Taurasi was tossed from the game in the second quarter and the Monarchs took a 10 point lead at halftime. But the Mercury fought back and won the game by one point.

The Monarchs finally returned home to play in front of the ARCO Arena faithful on June 2, against their rival Los Angeles Sparks. The game marked the Monarchs sixth consecutive home-opener sell-out! However, six minutes into the game, all 17,317 fans became silent as they watched Monarchs All-Star forward DeMya Walker crumble to the ground in pain. DeMya had tripped over Taj McWilliams-Franklin and didn�t move for what seemed like an eternity. With a towel over her face to cover her tears, DeMya was carried off the court on a stretcher. Days later a doctor diagnosed her with a torn patellar tendon in her right knee and it was announced that she would be out for the remainder of the season. The Monarchs faced their first enormous obstacle of the season � playing without their starting forward.

The team had to keep their spirits high and play a rejuvenated San Antonio Silver Stars team only three days later. Rebekkah Brunson was penciled in to start in DeMya�s place, and she did more than just fill her shoes. Brunson tallied a then career-high 21 points in the 74-57 victory for the Monarchs. Days later, on June 9, Brunson grabbed a then career-high 17 rebounds in a loss against Phoenix.

The Monarchs went into the All-Star break with a 12-8 record. More importantly, the Monarchs were well-represented at the All-Star Game in Washington DC. Yolanda Griffith was voted in by fans as a starter, Rebekkah Brunson was named a reserve, Kara Lawson was chosen as a replacement player and first year Head Coach Jenny Boucek was named the Head Coach of the Western Conference Team.

After the break, Nicole Powell showed why she should have been in the All-Star game, as well. On July 29, against Minnesota, Powell poured in a career-high 29 points in a loss for the Monarchs. Two nights later in Seattle, Nicole tallied 28 points in a Monarchs victory. After another victory at home against the Storm, the Monarchs left for a four-game road trip that proved to be difficult. First up was Indiana, then the Connecticut Sun, then back-to-back games against San Antonio and the Houston Comets. The team returned to Sacramento having gone 1-3 on the road trip. A few days later, the Monarchs won their first overtime game of the season in an 86-82 victory over the much-improved Washington Mystics. They finished the season off with a win against San Antonio followed by two losses against Phoenix. With a record of 19-15, the Monarchs secured a third place finish in the Western Conference and were set to play the San Antonio Silver Stars in the First Round of the 2007 WNBA Playoffs.

Playoffs

On August 23, the Monarchs started their fifth consecutive playoff run against the second seeded San Antonio Silver Stars. For the Silver Stars, it would be their first time to the playoffs for this San Antonio franchise (formerly the Utah Starzz). Led by Nicole Powell�s playoff career-high 22 points, the Monarchs took a 1-0 lead in the series with a dominating 86-65 win in front of more than 10,000 Monarchs fans, which stands as the largest playoff crowd of the 2007 WNBA Playoffs. It seemed to everyone that the Monarchs were back on track for their fifth consecutive trip to the Western Conference Finals.

On Saturday, August 25, the Monarchs were in San Antonio for game two of the first-round series. The second game played out the exact opposite of the first. The Monarchs found themselves down early, and despite playoff career-highs from Kristin Haynie (15 points) and Rebekkah Brunson (18 points), they were unable to get back in the game. With an 86-61 Silver Stars victory, the series was tied up and would come down to a final game in San Antonio, two days later.

Much to the dismay of Monarchs players, coaching staff and fans, the team came out looking just as flat in game three. The Monarchs struggled offensively and defensively as the Silver Stars hit seven three-pointers in the first half alone. At halftime, the Monarchs found themselves down by 13. Things started looking up in the third quarter as the Monarchs offense began clicking, but they were still down. Down, but not out. Sparked by 10-point efforts from Kara Lawson and Nicole Powell, the Monarchs went on an impressive run in the fourth quarter. With the Monarchs suffocating the Silver Stars on defense and willing their way back on offense, the Monarchs finally took the lead with 2:23 remaining in the game. From there the game seemed to unwind at a ferocious rate as the teams exchanged buckets seemingly every possession.

Less than 30 seconds remained as the Monarchs came out of a timeout looking to take the lead with a Nicole Powell three-pointer. Powell�s shot came up short, however, but Lawson found a back door opening in the Silver Stars rebounding effort and was able to sneak inside to catch Powell�s shot, putting it up and in for a breathtaking lay up! The game was tied. San Antonio then had possession with just over 24 seconds left in the game. As expected, Becky Hammon received the ball and held the game outcome in the balance. As she drew three Monarchs defenders on a penetration to the middle of the lane, she found her seventh assist of the night with a bounce pass to an open Vickie Johnson, who laid it in with half a second remaining. The Monarchs took a time out and drew up a plan for Ticha Penicheiro to find Powell or Lawson, who would have to shoot fast. Instead, Ticha found Bekky Brunson in the lane with a perfect inbound lob pass that nearly sent the Monarchs into the second round. Brunson, who may have been fouled, missed the catch and shoot in midair attempt and San Antonio celebrated their first WNBA Playoff series win.

The Conclusion
The Monarchs season ended unexpectedly early, but true to their character, they left everything they had on the court. There was no question that they did everything possible to win, it just wasn�t their year. While it will be a change not to see the Monarchs in the WNBA Finals, it will give another team a shot to start their own legacy the way the Monarchs did. Even though more changes will occur in the 2007 off-season, one constant will remain again next year: the desire to win.

Ticha Penicheiro, Yolanda Griffith, Chelsea Newton and Rebekkah Brunson

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