Monarchs Are Looking for the Money Up Front

The Sacramento Monarchs find themselves in a strange place to start the second half of the season -- front-runners in the West.

This is a far cry from the recent past.

Although the Monarchs (13-5) have reached the Western Conference finals the last two seasons, and three of the last four years, they’ve never made the WNBA championship series. One reason: Sacramento has often spent the second half scrambling to make the playoffs because of poor starts.

Last year the Monarchs were 7-10 before finishing the season with an 18-16 record to grab fourth place. In 2003, Sacramento was 7-11 on July 8 before rallying for a 19-15 record, good enough for third.

Each time the Monarchs had to vanquish a tough first-round opponent by winning the deciding game on the road -- Houston in 2003, the Sparks in 2004 -- to get to the conference finals. They didn’t have home-court advantage in the next round either, and were eliminated.

This year Sacramento wants Game 3 in those best-of-three playoff series to be on its turf. And Arco Arena truly has been home, sweet home. The Monarchs are 7-1 in their building, the only loss to Connecticut.Sacramento Coach John Whisenant knows it will take more than a great home record to win a title.

So far the team has played the kind of dominant defense Whisenant loves. The Monarchs are giving up only 62 points a game, fewest in the league. They are the only WNBA team holding opponents under 40% shooting from the field.

Now the Monarchs, who average barely 68 points, need to ratchet up their offense, Whisenant said.

“That is our big challenge,” he said. “To have as good a second half as the first, we know defense alone can’t carry us the same way with teams becoming more fluid in their offense.”

Two moves made in the off-season could bring the added offensive punch Sacramento needs, Whisenant said.

He remains high on the trade with Charlotte that brought forward Nicole Powell to Sacramento in exchange for forward Tangela Smith. Powell (10.5) is the Monarchs’ third-leading scorer and their best three-point threat (35 for 91). “Some people thought it was foolish,” Whisenant said. “But I had seen Nicole in high school and at Stanford and knew she was a good shooter. Her stats don’t lie.”

The other move was stealing rookie guard Chelsea Newton in the second round of the 2005 draft. Whisenant liked Newton so much, he was afraid to talk to Rutgers Coach Vivian Stringer because it might tip other WNBA teams to his interest.

“What I liked about Chelsea -- and I went to see her five times to make sure -- is she will never shoot it if she doesn’t have a shot, but she is not afraid to shoot it,” Whisenant said.

Whisenant still expects defending champion Seattle and the Sparks to make a run for first in the West. But this time they’re chasing Sacramento.

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They were part of the biggest turnaround in WNBA history, members of a Charlotte team that began the 2001 season 1-10, but won 17 of its final 21 regular-season games to make the playoffs. A Charlotte team that continued that magical run all the way to the league finals before bowing to the Sparks.

Allison Feaster and Dawn Staley aren’t ruling out a similar run by the Sting in 2005. Outside Connecticut, the East is tightly bunched. New York, at 8-8, is in the fourth and final playoff slot, and its 5 1/2 -game lead over Charlotte is not insurmountable if the 3-14 Sting can get hot.

“We’ve been talking about it,” Feaster said. “We’re trying to help [teammates] relive that with us, to try and capture some of what we felt back then.”

Said Staley: “Hey, lightning can strike twice in the same place. We’re encouraged that we can get back into the playoff picture. We’re playing much better than our record is showing. And our opponents know that.”