Your 2005 Champions - the Sacramento MONARCHS!!
- Thread starter VF21
- Start date
Wow-this was just amazing. To actually be there, present, when history was made last night!! All the confetti coming down and everything. It was such a nail-biting win, too, with the Monarchs lagging in the first half, then making a comeback in the second, Katie Douglas hitting a corner 3 to almost tie the game, oh, the anxiety of just a few seconds for something to happen. My heart was beating out of my chest, and those few seconds seemed like forever!! It was so funny watching Gavin start jumping onto the court before the game was even over! Funny too that security started roping off the courtside when it was clear the M's were going to win, as if people would really start storming the court. After all these years of getting so close and then the disappointment, this win just made it all the more worth it.
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I'm verrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrry exhausted and incohrent today (which is a very appropriate condition for the workplace 
).
I'll be back later when I can think straight.
Thanks SORF and Mr4Play, last night was amazing.....what happened will hit me I'm sure a few weeks from now. But there are few words to describe it today.
). I'll be back later when I can think straight.
Thanks SORF and Mr4Play, last night was amazing.....what happened will hit me I'm sure a few weeks from now. But there are few words to describe it today.
Congratulations to the monarchs, their fans and the city of sacramento, you truly deserve it.
I want to specially congratulate ticha penicheiro since i am a fellow countryman of hers and we are all very proud of her here in portugal.
The game finished at about 4.00 AM here and i was genuinely very, very happy for you and wanted to celebrate.
Hope that a year from now we can be here together again, sharing the same feelings.
And congatulations again, seems that they are never enough.
I want to specially congratulate ticha penicheiro since i am a fellow countryman of hers and we are all very proud of her here in portugal.
The game finished at about 4.00 AM here and i was genuinely very, very happy for you and wanted to celebrate.
Hope that a year from now we can be here together again, sharing the same feelings.
And congatulations again, seems that they are never enough.
you know i seen it and everybody here at my house was happy and so was I, but as soon as i heard "We are the champions". It made me mad and sad about the kings and how they didn't win one, and i don't know, i just felt horrible but still happy for them. Hopefully the kings can do the same, sooner than later.
Congratulations 2005 WNBA CHAMPION MONARCHS!!! What a night it was. I too was very quiet & nervous after the first half. The 2nd half a different story...we came out focused & our leader YO got in her groove. Those 9 sec. drove me crazy...foul or play it out...thank goodness Sales final shot was off line. We are Champs!!!! Enjoyed Champayne & about 20 of us went to Chili's to celebrate. Later Haynie & her family came in & the crowd errupted. Erin Buescher & her party also dropped in.
Awesome fans & a unforgettable night!
Awesome fans & a unforgettable night!
Yahoo! Sports: Monarchs' Griffith finally has a legacy: a WNBA championship
Monarchs' Griffith finally has a legacy: a WNBA championship
By GREG BEACHAM, AP Sports Writer
September 21, 2005
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) -- Yolanda Griffith has played in pro basketball leagues around the world. She has earned her peers' respect, two Olympic gold medals and plenty of money to support her daughter.
But until the Sacramento Monarchs won their first WNBA title on Tuesday night, Griffith didn't have a championship ring. She also didn't have a defining moment to clinch her spot among the best women's basketball players of her generation.
Griffith got it in front of a roaring crowd at Arco Arena, her home since joining the WNBA in 1999. The 35-year-old power forward known to everyone as ``Yo'' led the Monarchs to a 62-59 victory over Connecticut in Game 4 with 14 points and 10 rebounds, and was the clear choice as the finals MVP.
In the locker room after the game, with her braids soaked in champagne and a disbelieving smile plastered on her face, Griffith was nearly bursting with words and excitement -- a rare condition for a sometimes taciturn player known mostly for her intensity and intimidating sneer on the court.
``I'm the leader of this team, but there's nobody above anybody else on this team,'' Griffith said. ``I'm proud, because they knew who their captain was. I was injured for half of this season, but I tied my shoes and stepped on that court to win every game. I wanted this so bad.''
After a career that's taken her from Russia to Long Beach, from Germany to Sacramento, Griffith finally has a legacy. The Monarchs were her team from the first day of training camp, when she rescinded an offseason trade request because she realized the rebuilding club could be something special.
So she essentially became a coach to her teammates, schooling them in discipline and mental attitude along with the intricacies of her low-post game. The young Monarchs followed her lead, becoming the WNBA's top defensive team before rolling to seven wins in eight playoff games.
``Yolanda is relentless in anything she does,'' said guard Chelsea Newton, who made the WNBA's all-rookie team. ``We knew that she wasn't going to let us lose. We needed to go through her. Every time we were in a tight situation, she was always going to pull us out, whether it was defense or offense. She has been there, and she's done it.''
Ticha Penicheiro has been the John Stockton to Griffith's Karl Malone since 1999. Penicheiro, the 31-year-old Portuguese point guard, is the WNBA's career assists leader, and Griffith has grabbed more offensive rebounds than anybody in league history.
But unlike their Utah Jazz counterparts, Griffith and Penicheiro finally hoisted a championship trophy.
``Yo deserved this more than anybody,'' Penicheiro said. ``She's come so far, and we've all worked so hard. This is for everybody, but it's for her.''
Griffith's leadership even extended to the stands. When a fan threw something onto the court late in the second half of the decisive Game 4, she went to the scorers' table, cast a fierce look at the crowd and screamed, ``Don't be stupid!''
Griffith had traveled too far to let anything ruin this moment. She worked her way through junior college and Division II Florida Atlantic as a single mother, then played professionally in Germany for parts of four seasons before joining the ABL in 1997.
She has played in Russia the last three offseasons, making more than five times her WNBA salary -- but she held onto the hope for one more shot at a title in the United States. The night before Game 4, Griffith thought back to the 1998 championship series in the defunct ABL, in which her Long Beach Stingrays blew a two-game lead to the Columbus Quest.
``I think didn't about it until then, but these opportunities come hardly ever,'' Griffith said. ``When you get one, you've got to grab it, and that's what we did. We grabbed the rings.''
She plans to go back to Russia in the winter, and she'll return to Sacramento to defend her title -- but she plans to relax first. She was the star attraction at a parade and rally in Sacramento on Wednesday.
``I'm off the clock,'' she said with a grin.
Monarchs' Griffith finally has a legacy: a WNBA championship
By GREG BEACHAM, AP Sports Writer
September 21, 2005
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) -- Yolanda Griffith has played in pro basketball leagues around the world. She has earned her peers' respect, two Olympic gold medals and plenty of money to support her daughter.
But until the Sacramento Monarchs won their first WNBA title on Tuesday night, Griffith didn't have a championship ring. She also didn't have a defining moment to clinch her spot among the best women's basketball players of her generation.
Griffith got it in front of a roaring crowd at Arco Arena, her home since joining the WNBA in 1999. The 35-year-old power forward known to everyone as ``Yo'' led the Monarchs to a 62-59 victory over Connecticut in Game 4 with 14 points and 10 rebounds, and was the clear choice as the finals MVP.
In the locker room after the game, with her braids soaked in champagne and a disbelieving smile plastered on her face, Griffith was nearly bursting with words and excitement -- a rare condition for a sometimes taciturn player known mostly for her intensity and intimidating sneer on the court.
``I'm the leader of this team, but there's nobody above anybody else on this team,'' Griffith said. ``I'm proud, because they knew who their captain was. I was injured for half of this season, but I tied my shoes and stepped on that court to win every game. I wanted this so bad.''
After a career that's taken her from Russia to Long Beach, from Germany to Sacramento, Griffith finally has a legacy. The Monarchs were her team from the first day of training camp, when she rescinded an offseason trade request because she realized the rebuilding club could be something special.
So she essentially became a coach to her teammates, schooling them in discipline and mental attitude along with the intricacies of her low-post game. The young Monarchs followed her lead, becoming the WNBA's top defensive team before rolling to seven wins in eight playoff games.
``Yolanda is relentless in anything she does,'' said guard Chelsea Newton, who made the WNBA's all-rookie team. ``We knew that she wasn't going to let us lose. We needed to go through her. Every time we were in a tight situation, she was always going to pull us out, whether it was defense or offense. She has been there, and she's done it.''
Ticha Penicheiro has been the John Stockton to Griffith's Karl Malone since 1999. Penicheiro, the 31-year-old Portuguese point guard, is the WNBA's career assists leader, and Griffith has grabbed more offensive rebounds than anybody in league history.
But unlike their Utah Jazz counterparts, Griffith and Penicheiro finally hoisted a championship trophy.
``Yo deserved this more than anybody,'' Penicheiro said. ``She's come so far, and we've all worked so hard. This is for everybody, but it's for her.''
Griffith's leadership even extended to the stands. When a fan threw something onto the court late in the second half of the decisive Game 4, she went to the scorers' table, cast a fierce look at the crowd and screamed, ``Don't be stupid!''
Griffith had traveled too far to let anything ruin this moment. She worked her way through junior college and Division II Florida Atlantic as a single mother, then played professionally in Germany for parts of four seasons before joining the ABL in 1997.
She has played in Russia the last three offseasons, making more than five times her WNBA salary -- but she held onto the hope for one more shot at a title in the United States. The night before Game 4, Griffith thought back to the 1998 championship series in the defunct ABL, in which her Long Beach Stingrays blew a two-game lead to the Columbus Quest.
``I think didn't about it until then, but these opportunities come hardly ever,'' Griffith said. ``When you get one, you've got to grab it, and that's what we did. We grabbed the rings.''
She plans to go back to Russia in the winter, and she'll return to Sacramento to defend her title -- but she plans to relax first. She was the star attraction at a parade and rally in Sacramento on Wednesday.
``I'm off the clock,'' she said with a grin.
ESPN.com: Finally, a title to call their own
By Mechelle Voepel, Special to ESPN.com
SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Kara Lawson found an open place to sit in the packed Sacramento locker room: on Nicole Powell's knee. Yes, the great Tennessee-Stanford divide had been bridged.
"We came together for the purple, for the Monarchs," laughed a hoarse Powell after Sacramento's Game 4 title-clinching 62-59 victory over Connecticut in the WNBA Finals on Tuesday. "She's on the West Coast now."
Lawson teased back, "She's all right. But she annoys me. She thinks she's really smart because she has a Stanford degree."
Tennessee has six NCAA titles and Stanford two -- but Lawson and Powell weren't on any of those teams. Then you have Rebekkah Brunson, who spent four seasons playing for Ol' Yeller, Pat Knapp, the former coach at Georgetown, and never made the NCAA Tournament. Two trips to the WNIT was all the college postseason "glory" Brunson had.
DeMya Walker was a one half away from a Final Four trip her freshman season at Virginia in 1996, but Tennessee and Chamique Holdsclaw took that away. Chelsea Newton can relate; her Rutgers team fell to Tennessee in the Elite Eight this year. Oh, so can Powell; Stanford went down in the 2004 Elite Eight to the Orange Crush in her senior year.
Tennessee yanked Ticha Penicheiro's best shot at an NCAA title with Old Dominion, in the 1997 championship game. And, of course, it was Old Dominion that handed Olympia Scott-Richardson's Stanford team the program's most painful loss, in the 1997 Final Four semis. The next year, Scott-Richardson finished her college career enduring an injury-depleted Stanford team's NCAA first-round loss to No. 16 Harvard.
Hamchetou Maiga? She was with the ODU team that fell in the Elite Eight to the 2002 UConn undefeated juggernaut. Erin Buescher spent three years at UCSB, then went to the NAIA in her senior season. Kristin Haynie and Michigan State made it all the way to the NCAA title game this year, but ran out of gas against Baylor.
So, that's almost the complete college title-less crew that finally could celebrate winning it all Tuesday night. Which brings us to …
The MVP, Yolanda Griffith. Her story is very familiar to WNBA followers, but just to recap: She was recruited to Iowa, sat out for academics, had a daughter, went to junior college in Florida and then spent two years at Division II Florida Atlantic.
In 1993, when Iowa made the Final Four, Griffith might have been with the Hawkeyes had things all worked out differently. Maybe with her, Iowa beats Ohio State in the semis, and there would have been a showdown between Griffith's Hawkeyes and Sheryl Swoopes' Texas Tech team in the final. But that didn't happen. Swoopes won that title and was the college sensation of 1993, while most women's hoops fans had long since lost track of Griffith, although she was a D-II Kodak All-American that year.
Yet then, Swoopes and Griffith and every other female player finished with her college eligibility was in the same rather depressing boat. No American pro league to play in. The U.S. women had gotten "only" a bronze in the 1992 Olympics, and there was no buzz about women's hoops coming out of Barcelona. Swoopes went to work in a bank for a while. Griffith headed to Germany for the opportunity, however obscure, of European pro ball.
Thanks in part to the popularity and gold-medal success of the USA women in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, the WNBA started the next summer. And so here we are in 2005, with Swoopes still on top of her game, as the league's regular-season MVP for Western Conference finalist Houston, and Griffith as the WNBA Finals MVP for champion Sacramento.
I could say it a million times: This is one of the truly wonderful things about the WNBA: opportunity. The chance to watch great players live out the full arc of their careers. The chance to see good players who never got any spotlight in college show how talented they are. The chance to observe how a pretty good college player can fully develop her basketball potential in her mid- to late-20s.
We missed all that for so many years and for so many players. It's a shame, yet it makes every passing WNBA season something to fully appreciate. Because we don't miss it anymore.
Griffith competed in the ABL for the two and a half seasons it lasted, but the WNBA has given her the opportunity to have a real stage for her vast ability. Even in kind of an "off" game, with 14 points and 10 rebounds, Griffith was the star Tuesday.
She acknowledged that earlier this year, she wasn't sure she wanted to remain with Sacramento. She saw her friend and interior mate Tangela Smith traded. There were a lot of youngsters on the roster. She felt the Monarchs had been so close to contending for a WNBA title in her six seasons at Sacramento, but she doubted that for 2005.
"In the beginning of this season, I didn't want to be here because I didn't think that this would be possible. But I'm glad I decided to stay," Griffith said. "Coach [John] Whisenant told me this was my team, and he needed me to teach the young players how to mature."
And yes, Whisenant was provided an opportunity by the WNBA, too -- the chance to return to coaching again. He started his college coaching career as an assistant at Coffeyville Community College in Kansas in the 1960s. After four years as head coach at Arizona Western, he became an assistant for Norm Ellenberger at New Mexico.
The Lobos had very good teams -- but weren't exactly sticklers for the rules, to say the least. The result was "Lobogate," a scandal that involved 57 NCAA violations and even an FBI raid of the New Mexico men's basketball offices in 1979. The staff was fired, of course, and Whisenant entered the business world. A longtime friend of the Maloof family, which was based in Albuquerque, Whisenant became a success in real estate and construction. But he never lost the desire to coach.
He coached his kids' AAU teams. He coached the New Mexico Slam of the IBL from 1999-2001. But when he went to Sacramento to be an assistant general manager to Jerry Reynolds in 2003, he said he had no intention of coaching. But sometimes, things just seem destined to happen.
Whisenant took over when Maura McHugh was fired in the 2003 season. The Monarchs, especially veterans such as Griffith and Penicheiro, didn't know what to think of his defense-comes-first system. But the team was successful, and Whisenant came back on board for 2004 and took over the role as general manager.
The Monarchs' 2-1 series loss to Seattle in the Western Conference Finals last year was extremely disappointing to Griffith. She takes more than her share of punishment on the inside, and she has been doing it now for so many years. She had two Olympic gold medals, but she wanted a WNBA championship to solidify her career.
And this year, she has been everything the Monarchs needed. Lawson, Walker and Penicheiro all missed time with injuries. But Griffith didn't miss a game, even though, as she said Tuesday, "My right knee is swollen like a big cantaloupe."
If probably didn't really hurt too badly, though, when she knew she finally had her title. And guess what? She's still not done.
"Once you win one, you're hungry to win another one," she said. "So we'll be back next year."
By Mechelle Voepel, Special to ESPN.com
SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Kara Lawson found an open place to sit in the packed Sacramento locker room: on Nicole Powell's knee. Yes, the great Tennessee-Stanford divide had been bridged.
"We came together for the purple, for the Monarchs," laughed a hoarse Powell after Sacramento's Game 4 title-clinching 62-59 victory over Connecticut in the WNBA Finals on Tuesday. "She's on the West Coast now."
Lawson teased back, "She's all right. But she annoys me. She thinks she's really smart because she has a Stanford degree."
Tennessee has six NCAA titles and Stanford two -- but Lawson and Powell weren't on any of those teams. Then you have Rebekkah Brunson, who spent four seasons playing for Ol' Yeller, Pat Knapp, the former coach at Georgetown, and never made the NCAA Tournament. Two trips to the WNIT was all the college postseason "glory" Brunson had.
DeMya Walker was a one half away from a Final Four trip her freshman season at Virginia in 1996, but Tennessee and Chamique Holdsclaw took that away. Chelsea Newton can relate; her Rutgers team fell to Tennessee in the Elite Eight this year. Oh, so can Powell; Stanford went down in the 2004 Elite Eight to the Orange Crush in her senior year.
Tennessee yanked Ticha Penicheiro's best shot at an NCAA title with Old Dominion, in the 1997 championship game. And, of course, it was Old Dominion that handed Olympia Scott-Richardson's Stanford team the program's most painful loss, in the 1997 Final Four semis. The next year, Scott-Richardson finished her college career enduring an injury-depleted Stanford team's NCAA first-round loss to No. 16 Harvard.
Hamchetou Maiga? She was with the ODU team that fell in the Elite Eight to the 2002 UConn undefeated juggernaut. Erin Buescher spent three years at UCSB, then went to the NAIA in her senior season. Kristin Haynie and Michigan State made it all the way to the NCAA title game this year, but ran out of gas against Baylor.
So, that's almost the complete college title-less crew that finally could celebrate winning it all Tuesday night. Which brings us to …
The MVP, Yolanda Griffith. Her story is very familiar to WNBA followers, but just to recap: She was recruited to Iowa, sat out for academics, had a daughter, went to junior college in Florida and then spent two years at Division II Florida Atlantic.
In 1993, when Iowa made the Final Four, Griffith might have been with the Hawkeyes had things all worked out differently. Maybe with her, Iowa beats Ohio State in the semis, and there would have been a showdown between Griffith's Hawkeyes and Sheryl Swoopes' Texas Tech team in the final. But that didn't happen. Swoopes won that title and was the college sensation of 1993, while most women's hoops fans had long since lost track of Griffith, although she was a D-II Kodak All-American that year.
Yet then, Swoopes and Griffith and every other female player finished with her college eligibility was in the same rather depressing boat. No American pro league to play in. The U.S. women had gotten "only" a bronze in the 1992 Olympics, and there was no buzz about women's hoops coming out of Barcelona. Swoopes went to work in a bank for a while. Griffith headed to Germany for the opportunity, however obscure, of European pro ball.
Thanks in part to the popularity and gold-medal success of the USA women in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, the WNBA started the next summer. And so here we are in 2005, with Swoopes still on top of her game, as the league's regular-season MVP for Western Conference finalist Houston, and Griffith as the WNBA Finals MVP for champion Sacramento.
I could say it a million times: This is one of the truly wonderful things about the WNBA: opportunity. The chance to watch great players live out the full arc of their careers. The chance to see good players who never got any spotlight in college show how talented they are. The chance to observe how a pretty good college player can fully develop her basketball potential in her mid- to late-20s.
We missed all that for so many years and for so many players. It's a shame, yet it makes every passing WNBA season something to fully appreciate. Because we don't miss it anymore.
Griffith competed in the ABL for the two and a half seasons it lasted, but the WNBA has given her the opportunity to have a real stage for her vast ability. Even in kind of an "off" game, with 14 points and 10 rebounds, Griffith was the star Tuesday.
She acknowledged that earlier this year, she wasn't sure she wanted to remain with Sacramento. She saw her friend and interior mate Tangela Smith traded. There were a lot of youngsters on the roster. She felt the Monarchs had been so close to contending for a WNBA title in her six seasons at Sacramento, but she doubted that for 2005.
"In the beginning of this season, I didn't want to be here because I didn't think that this would be possible. But I'm glad I decided to stay," Griffith said. "Coach [John] Whisenant told me this was my team, and he needed me to teach the young players how to mature."
And yes, Whisenant was provided an opportunity by the WNBA, too -- the chance to return to coaching again. He started his college coaching career as an assistant at Coffeyville Community College in Kansas in the 1960s. After four years as head coach at Arizona Western, he became an assistant for Norm Ellenberger at New Mexico.
The Lobos had very good teams -- but weren't exactly sticklers for the rules, to say the least. The result was "Lobogate," a scandal that involved 57 NCAA violations and even an FBI raid of the New Mexico men's basketball offices in 1979. The staff was fired, of course, and Whisenant entered the business world. A longtime friend of the Maloof family, which was based in Albuquerque, Whisenant became a success in real estate and construction. But he never lost the desire to coach.
He coached his kids' AAU teams. He coached the New Mexico Slam of the IBL from 1999-2001. But when he went to Sacramento to be an assistant general manager to Jerry Reynolds in 2003, he said he had no intention of coaching. But sometimes, things just seem destined to happen.
Whisenant took over when Maura McHugh was fired in the 2003 season. The Monarchs, especially veterans such as Griffith and Penicheiro, didn't know what to think of his defense-comes-first system. But the team was successful, and Whisenant came back on board for 2004 and took over the role as general manager.
The Monarchs' 2-1 series loss to Seattle in the Western Conference Finals last year was extremely disappointing to Griffith. She takes more than her share of punishment on the inside, and she has been doing it now for so many years. She had two Olympic gold medals, but she wanted a WNBA championship to solidify her career.
And this year, she has been everything the Monarchs needed. Lawson, Walker and Penicheiro all missed time with injuries. But Griffith didn't miss a game, even though, as she said Tuesday, "My right knee is swollen like a big cantaloupe."
If probably didn't really hurt too badly, though, when she knew she finally had her title. And guess what? She's still not done.
"Once you win one, you're hungry to win another one," she said. "So we'll be back next year."
WNBA.com: Griffith Delivers
By Brad Friedman, WNBA.com
SACRAMENTO, Calif., Sept. 20 -- After a Game 1 Finals road win in which Sacramento Monarchs center Yolanda Griffith posted 25 points and nine rebounds, Monarchs coach John Whisenant compared the seven-year WNBA veteran to former Jazz and Lakers forward Karl Malone.
Tuesday night Griffith separated herself from Malone, doing what her NBA counterpart never could. Win a championship.
The Monarchs defeated the Connecticut Sun 62-59 in Game 4 to take the 2005 WNBA title. Griffith, who led the team in scoring in every postseason contest, carried the Monarchs on her back throughout series, earning her Finals MVP honors.
"Yolanda deservingly received the MVP," said Whisenant about the franchise cornerstone, who averaged 18.5 points and 9.8 rebounds in the series.
Griffith helped the Monarchs climb out of a 31-25 halftime disadvantage in Game 4, scoring 10 of her 14 points after intermission. Competing in her first Finals ever, Griffith wasn't about to let a chance at a title slip away.
"I knew in the first half we were not playing Sacramento basketball," said Griffith, who lost three times in the West Finals before this year. "I knew I was struggling, I was forcing too many things. I just kept my composure and like I said, my teammates are always going to have my back."
Added shooting guard Chelsea Newton: "We knew to go to her (in the second half) because that's where our money is. Yolanda's our heart."
She certainly has plenty of it, too. It's been a long-winded journey for the 35-year-old Griffith, yet she's always seemed to push ahead. The circuitous route Griffith's taken began with a much-ballyhooed career at George Washington Carver High School in Chicago, a program responsible for producing future NBAers Tim Hardaway and Terry Cummings.
Griffith soon after hit her first bump in the road when she was unable to play at the school she committed to, the University of Iowa, landing her at tiny Palm Beach (Fla.) Junior College instead. Eventually Griffith transferred to Florida Atlantic University, where she garnered Division II All-American honors in her lone season there.
Griffith wouldn't play organized basketball again in the United States until 1997, when Chicago held a franchise in the now-defunct American Basketball League (ABL). She earned ABL Defensive Player of the Year honors her initial season there, but the franchise folded midway through the next campaign.
With Griffith no longer under contract, the Monarchs selected her with the second overall pick in the 1999 WNBA Draft. The move paid immediate dividends as the 6-4 center won MVP honors after posting 18.8 and 11.3 rebounds per game as a newcomer to the league.
Since then, she's constructed a prolific career in Sacramento that's included six WNBA All-Star Game appearances and five stops on WNBA First and Second teams, but never a WNBA title -- until now.
"It feels great to feel what all the other champions have felt," Griffith said. "Feeling the pain I felt so many years in Sacramento not being able to get over the hump."
Ironically, when Whisenant dramatically shook up the team's roster this past offseason, breaking up a core of players whom had played together six years, Griffith wasn't so sure she wanted to be a Monarch anymore.
"In the beginning of the season I didn't want to be here because I didn't think that this would be possible," she said.
Added Whisenant: "Yolanda's only thing when I started making all the changes was she requested that I trade her because she thought that I was rebuilding. I told her, 'I'm not going to trade you. You're too good and I can't replace you, and I'm not rebuilding, we're just reloading.'"
As soon as Griffith came to training camp this season she felt right away extending her stay was the right path. That intuition proved prophetic Tuesday night. And, after the buzzer sounded, one of the first things Griffith did was run to the baseline and give two of her biggest supporters hugs.
Said sister Kathy Johnson: "This is a culmination and the crowning glory of all the hard work. She never lost focus."
Added sister Cynthia Merritt: "She's always had that drive to be the best, even as a child."
Now that Griffith's won just about the only honor she hadn't previously earned in her career, what's there left for her to do?
"Oh, my God, I'm going to party tonight," she said as confetti rained down on her.
By Brad Friedman, WNBA.com
SACRAMENTO, Calif., Sept. 20 -- After a Game 1 Finals road win in which Sacramento Monarchs center Yolanda Griffith posted 25 points and nine rebounds, Monarchs coach John Whisenant compared the seven-year WNBA veteran to former Jazz and Lakers forward Karl Malone.
Tuesday night Griffith separated herself from Malone, doing what her NBA counterpart never could. Win a championship.
The Monarchs defeated the Connecticut Sun 62-59 in Game 4 to take the 2005 WNBA title. Griffith, who led the team in scoring in every postseason contest, carried the Monarchs on her back throughout series, earning her Finals MVP honors.
"Yolanda deservingly received the MVP," said Whisenant about the franchise cornerstone, who averaged 18.5 points and 9.8 rebounds in the series.
Griffith helped the Monarchs climb out of a 31-25 halftime disadvantage in Game 4, scoring 10 of her 14 points after intermission. Competing in her first Finals ever, Griffith wasn't about to let a chance at a title slip away.
"I knew in the first half we were not playing Sacramento basketball," said Griffith, who lost three times in the West Finals before this year. "I knew I was struggling, I was forcing too many things. I just kept my composure and like I said, my teammates are always going to have my back."
Added shooting guard Chelsea Newton: "We knew to go to her (in the second half) because that's where our money is. Yolanda's our heart."
She certainly has plenty of it, too. It's been a long-winded journey for the 35-year-old Griffith, yet she's always seemed to push ahead. The circuitous route Griffith's taken began with a much-ballyhooed career at George Washington Carver High School in Chicago, a program responsible for producing future NBAers Tim Hardaway and Terry Cummings.
Griffith soon after hit her first bump in the road when she was unable to play at the school she committed to, the University of Iowa, landing her at tiny Palm Beach (Fla.) Junior College instead. Eventually Griffith transferred to Florida Atlantic University, where she garnered Division II All-American honors in her lone season there.
Griffith wouldn't play organized basketball again in the United States until 1997, when Chicago held a franchise in the now-defunct American Basketball League (ABL). She earned ABL Defensive Player of the Year honors her initial season there, but the franchise folded midway through the next campaign.
With Griffith no longer under contract, the Monarchs selected her with the second overall pick in the 1999 WNBA Draft. The move paid immediate dividends as the 6-4 center won MVP honors after posting 18.8 and 11.3 rebounds per game as a newcomer to the league.
Since then, she's constructed a prolific career in Sacramento that's included six WNBA All-Star Game appearances and five stops on WNBA First and Second teams, but never a WNBA title -- until now.
"It feels great to feel what all the other champions have felt," Griffith said. "Feeling the pain I felt so many years in Sacramento not being able to get over the hump."
Ironically, when Whisenant dramatically shook up the team's roster this past offseason, breaking up a core of players whom had played together six years, Griffith wasn't so sure she wanted to be a Monarch anymore.
"In the beginning of the season I didn't want to be here because I didn't think that this would be possible," she said.
Added Whisenant: "Yolanda's only thing when I started making all the changes was she requested that I trade her because she thought that I was rebuilding. I told her, 'I'm not going to trade you. You're too good and I can't replace you, and I'm not rebuilding, we're just reloading.'"
As soon as Griffith came to training camp this season she felt right away extending her stay was the right path. That intuition proved prophetic Tuesday night. And, after the buzzer sounded, one of the first things Griffith did was run to the baseline and give two of her biggest supporters hugs.
Said sister Kathy Johnson: "This is a culmination and the crowning glory of all the hard work. She never lost focus."
Added sister Cynthia Merritt: "She's always had that drive to be the best, even as a child."
Now that Griffith's won just about the only honor she hadn't previously earned in her career, what's there left for her to do?
"Oh, my God, I'm going to party tonight," she said as confetti rained down on her.
SlimCitrus:
Thanks for sharing Mechelle Voepel's article about the Monarchs players and their college connections!
I never knew Yo was originally recruited to Iowa! For a long time, I often wondered why she went to Florida-Atlantic (a Division II school) instead of a more well-known college basketball program in the Midwest, where she grew up. I would think any of the Chicago-area colleges (DePaul, Univ. of Illinois, Northwestern, etc.) would have been intererested in recruiting her. Or perhaps some other Midwestern college with a successful women's program such as Tennessee, Kansas State, Oklahoma, Purdue, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Vanderbilt, etc.
And speaking of Monarchs...I find it interesting (and a wee bit ironic) that Ticha and Hamchetou Maiga both went to Old Dominion University. And ODU's team nickname is....the Monarchs!
I guess...once a Monarch, always a Monarch!
Thanks for sharing Mechelle Voepel's article about the Monarchs players and their college connections!
I never knew Yo was originally recruited to Iowa! For a long time, I often wondered why she went to Florida-Atlantic (a Division II school) instead of a more well-known college basketball program in the Midwest, where she grew up. I would think any of the Chicago-area colleges (DePaul, Univ. of Illinois, Northwestern, etc.) would have been intererested in recruiting her. Or perhaps some other Midwestern college with a successful women's program such as Tennessee, Kansas State, Oklahoma, Purdue, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Vanderbilt, etc.
And speaking of Monarchs...I find it interesting (and a wee bit ironic) that Ticha and Hamchetou Maiga both went to Old Dominion University. And ODU's team nickname is....the Monarchs!
I guess...once a Monarch, always a Monarch!
StevenHW said:
SlimCitrus:
Thanks for sharing Mechelle Voepel's article about the Monarchs players and their college connections!
I never knew Yo was originally recruited to Iowa! For a long time, I often wondered why she went to Florida-Atlantic (a Division II school) instead of a more well-known college basketball program in the Midwest, where she grew up. I would think any of the Chicago-area colleges (DePaul, Univ. of Illinois, Northwestern, etc.) would have been intererested in recruiting her. Or perhaps some other Midwestern college with a successful women's program such as Tennessee, Kansas State, Oklahoma, Purdue, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Vanderbilt, etc.
And speaking of Monarchs...I find it interesting (and a wee bit ironic) that Ticha and Hamchetou Maiga both went to Old Dominion University. And ODU's team nickname is....the Monarchs!
I guess...once a Monarch, always a Monarch!
Thanks for sharing Mechelle Voepel's article about the Monarchs players and their college connections!
I never knew Yo was originally recruited to Iowa! For a long time, I often wondered why she went to Florida-Atlantic (a Division II school) instead of a more well-known college basketball program in the Midwest, where she grew up. I would think any of the Chicago-area colleges (DePaul, Univ. of Illinois, Northwestern, etc.) would have been intererested in recruiting her. Or perhaps some other Midwestern college with a successful women's program such as Tennessee, Kansas State, Oklahoma, Purdue, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Vanderbilt, etc.
And speaking of Monarchs...I find it interesting (and a wee bit ironic) that Ticha and Hamchetou Maiga both went to Old Dominion University. And ODU's team nickname is....the Monarchs!
I guess...once a Monarch, always a Monarch!
Voepel once again provides a great read!!! Thanks for posting those....
I gotta say I saw just about every single one of those elimination games those players had collegiately. I think it was near the beginning of the 1999 season and Ticha was in studio with Kozimor and Ruthie for Monarchs Talk one night I called the show and told her "it was hard at first, but I had to learn stop hating you for what you did to break my heart as a Stanford fan and learn to love and appreciate you here in Sacramento...and boy do I" and she just laughed...
I gotta say I saw just about every single one of those elimination games those players had collegiately. I think it was near the beginning of the 1999 season and Ticha was in studio with Kozimor and Ruthie for Monarchs Talk one night I called the show and told her "it was hard at first, but I had to learn stop hating you for what you did to break my heart as a Stanford fan and learn to love and appreciate you here in Sacramento...and boy do I" and she just laughed...
HECK YEAH!!! I wish I was there, AWESOME. Congrats to the Monarchs on a terrific season. God I can't imagine how it was in the arena after the buzzer went off. I was in my bedroom and I was going crazy, i think my sister thinks I'm crazy, but that's alright. Congrats to the Monarchs, and to the fans for their support this season.
Hi All -- a Newton Fan here
I wanted to say congrats to the Monarchs and Chelsea Newton. As one who followed her career for four years we are very proud of her.
I just wanted to throw in another connection. Both Griffith and Newton were coached by one C. Vivian Stringer. Griffith in Iowa and Newton at Rutgers. So there are many connections on this team. I have been following them all year because of Chelsea and actually wear a Monarchs cap to the NY Liberty games that I have season tickets to.
Hope to see more Rutgers players on the Monarchs, since Coach Wiz loves defensive players.
I wanted to say congrats to the Monarchs and Chelsea Newton. As one who followed her career for four years we are very proud of her.
I just wanted to throw in another connection. Both Griffith and Newton were coached by one C. Vivian Stringer. Griffith in Iowa and Newton at Rutgers. So there are many connections on this team. I have been following them all year because of Chelsea and actually wear a Monarchs cap to the NY Liberty games that I have season tickets to.
Hope to see more Rutgers players on the Monarchs, since Coach Wiz loves defensive players.