The team that edged them all to earn the final playoff spot was the Monarchs, who quietly reached the postseason for the sixth straight season. Sacramento seemed like an unlikely candidate to reach the playoffs at the year’s midway point, owning a mediocre 8-11 mark. But in mid-July, Sacramento’s signature team defense finally kicked in and ignited a seven-game winning streak that allowed it to leapfrog teams in the standings. The team ended up going 10-5 over its last 15 regular season games to lock up the fourth and final seed in the West.
The first round of the playoffs saw the Monarchs fall to the San Antonio Silver Stars, but not before putting up a valiant fight. Playing without star forward Rebekkah Brunson, who was sidelined with a knee injury, Sacramento pushed the West’s top seed to the brink on the road and lost the deciding game in overtime.
While you’d be hard-pressed to get anyone on Sacramento to admit something positive came out of the first-round defeat, the progression head coach Jenny Boucek and her players made over the second half of 2008 can’t be overlooked. In early July the team looked old and stagnant and in September resembled one on the verge of commencing its next successful chapter.
One reason was the surprise play of rookie Crystal Kelly, who was picked up just before the 2008 season after being waived by Houston. When Brunson went down, Kelly stepped in and stepped up. The Western Kentucky product started all three playoff games in place of Brunson and gave San Antonio fits, averaging 12.3 points while shooting 70 percent from the field.
Kelly proved to be a nice compliment to the foundation of Kara Lawson, Ticha Penicheiro and Nicole Powell, which is now reaping the benefits of the familiarity and cohesion it has been building over the past few years. Lawson became a full-time starter for the first time in her career and averaged a career-best 12.2 points per game. That number was topped only by Powell’s 13.6 ppg – also the best scoring output of her career. Playing in her 11th WNBA campaign, Penicheiro rejuvenated her career by turning in one of her best seasons as a pro and figures to give the Monarchs steady play from the point again in 2009.
As mentioned above, Brunson’s season was cut short by a knee injury that required off-season surgery. Prior to getting hurt she had established herself as one of the top low-post defenders in the game, making the All-Defensive Second Team in ’07 and ‘08. On top of that, DeMya Walker missed most of the year with her second knee injury in as many seasons.
Just how dangerous would Sacramento have been if it had a healthy Brunson and Walker all season? Well, we may get a chance to find out this year should there be no further setbacks, although the durability of Brunson and Walker remains the wild card heading into 2009.
The other variable added to the mix for ’09 is Courtney Paris, who was the team’s first-round selection in the 2009 WNBA Draft after she fell all the way to No. 7. Paris is being tagged as one of those prospects who should be able to make an impact right away in the WNBA after a successful stint at Oklahoma. She possesses a formidable array of post moves and Sacramento could definitely use some scoring down low. But just how high of a ceiling she has is another issue. The big concerns, obviously, are her conditioning and lack of athleticism and how they will translate in a league where the players are much bigger, stronger and faster than they are at the college level.
Fortunately for Paris and the Monarchs the team doesn’t need her to do too much. Up front the team is armed with Brunson, Walker, Kelly and Laura Harper, who was the team’s first draft pick a year ago. Harper played in all 34 games last season and averaged 5.5 points and 4.0 rebounds in 16.5 minutes. Harper and fellow sophomore Kelly figure to take up most of the time at the center spot with Adrian Williams–Strong no longer in the picture.
The team also added free agent Hamchétou Maïga-Ba during off-season. Maïga-Ba, a reliable player at the wing position, played for Houston the last two seasons after spending her first five with the Monarchs.
Very quietly the Monarchs have once again put together a deep, defensive-minded roster that should give the team a strong chance of reaching the postseason for the seventh straight season. Sacramento may not have signed Tina Thompson, or traded for Lindsey Harding, but what the team has done is added some useful components to further the team’s transition into its new era.
But her rise hit a bit of a snag when she suffered a knee injury during the 2008 season. Brunson tried play through the pain and put off surgery until the end of the season, but as the regular season wound down it proved to be too much and Brunson shut things down with three games left, thus missing out on the playoffs.
With Brunson out, the Monarchs were nearly able to upset San Antonio thanks in large part to the inspired play up front by Kelly, who took Brunson’s spot in the lineup. Of course, the Monarchs didn’t win and Brunson very well could have been the x-factor if she was healthy.
The power forward will be back in 2009 after undergoing knee surgery in October, but just how effective she’ll be remains to be seen. The surgery sidelined Brunson for six months and she’ll have to regain her form while competing for playing time with Kelly, Harper, Walker and Paris. Suddenly, things aren’t as set up for Brunson as they have been in the past.
But Brunson is still the most talented big on the Monarchs roster, so how she responds in her first couple of months of action will not only tell us a lot about her ’09 prospects, but the team’s as well.
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