Monarchs survive on a last-second shot
By Debbie Arrington -- Bee Staff Writer
Published 2:15 am PDT Friday, September 3, 2004
It's not too late to get into a Fantasy Sports League. Sign up here.
These are the nights that inspire Monarchs ***istant coach Steve Shuman's dreams.
With the score tied and 3.8 seconds remaining, DeMya Walker split defenders and slipped in a driving layup a tick before time expired to lift Sacramento to a 66-64 win over the scrappy San Antonio Silver Stars on Thursday night at Arco Arena.
"Thank goodness for Steve Shuman," Monarchs coach John Whisenant said as his team topped the .500 mark for the first time this season. "He has a whole book of last-second plays. We've been practicing this one for a few days, just in case we needed one. It worked."
Added Walker: "I honestly think Steve comes up with these in in his sleep. He called me early in the morning before practice (this week) just to tell me about it."
Never mind that this game should not have come down to such theatrics against the league's worst team. But the Monarchs let a comfortable 11-point second-half lead with 3:54 remaining evaporate into a nailbiter.
Silver Stars forward LaToya Thomas, who scored 16 of her career-best 24 points after intermission, topped off a 13-2 San Antonio run with the first three-pointer of her WNBA career to tie the game at 64.
"She hadn't hit a three-pointer all year, and she did it over two 6-(foot-)4 players," Walker said. "When a girl gets hot, she's hot. At times like that, you think maybe it's just to be. But then we called timeout, and Steve drew up my play."
That one shot pulled out a must-win for Sacramento (14-13) as it scrambles to stay in the playoff race. Tangela Smith led the Monarchs with 16 points.
Yolanda Griffith, back from the Olympics, scored 15 - including nine points from the free-throw line - to go with a team-high seven rebounds.
Recovered from a hamstring strain, Edna Campbell added 10 points in her first double-digit performance of the season. Ticha Penicheiro had a game-best six ***ists as the Monarchs won their third straight - with a one-month gap between the first two victories.
San Antonio's Semeka Randall scored a season-high 16 points to go with seven rebounds.
In their first home game since July 31, the Monarchs got off to a very sluggish start, looking jet-lagged after a morning flight from Seattle.
San Antonio jumped out to a 6-0 lead while the Arco crowd of 9,136 kept standing and waiting - and waiting - for the first Sacramento score.
After 3:20, the fans finally sat down when Griffith made a free throw. Penicheiro hit the first Monarchs basket almost five minutes into the game.
After that, the Monarchs started to find their stride, albeit at a deliberate pace. Although San Antonio led most of the period, Sacramento eventually pulled out to a 28-23 halftime lead.
After intermission, the Monarchs opened three double-digit leads only to let San Antonio catch up. The two teams play again Saturday in Texas. "It will be even tougher for us to beat them on their home court," Whisenant said. "But that's the price we have to pay to make the playoffs."
His son was dancing trying to get shown on the jumbotron...and then when the PA announcer went over to tell Greg that he was going to announce him to the crowd, he told his kids and they got this big smile on their faces waiting for the cameras. And then the Arco people game them some Monarch Basketballs. In one instance, during a time out, his son got up started to dribble the ball on the court and drove to the basket for a lay-up. The official started to look at him weird and then his Dad called him over to come sit back down. Then there was another instance when the M's were going to inbound the ball on the baseline and the officials had to blow the whistle because one ball went rolling across the floor. Suffice to say I think the Ostertag family is enjoying Sacramento so far