Sacramento Monarchs Fan Club

Back-to-back games and the Monarchs stand strong with 2 wins.

Nicole Powell and Crystal Kelly each scored 18 points to lead the Monarchs to an 82-78 win over the Lynx on Thursday night.

The Monarchs (5-4) built a big lead, then held off a rally by the Lynx.

The Monarchs won 79-76 at Washington on Wednesday night.

“Crystal and all of our rookies are doing a really great job for us and Crystal in particular has some instinctual gifts that you can’t teach,” Monarchs coach Jenny Boucek said. “An ability to score and create contact in there and she gives us a really strong low post presence coming off of the bench.”

Minnesota, which has lost three of four after a franchise-best 5-0 start, fell to 6-3 despite 21 points by Seimone Augustus.

The Lynx are 1-12 in their past 13 games against Sacramento and have not beaten the Monarchs at home since 2004.

The Monarchs hit four consecutive free throws and held off another Minnesota rally in the final 2 minutes to finish their road trip with a 3-0 mark. Ticha Penicheiro hit five free throws in the final 15.1 seconds for the Monarchs.

“We just stuck together the whole time. We never lost our composure,” Kelly said. “Our first road trip was the exact opposite. We went 0-3. So to turn it around and see how well we’re playing off of one another, we’re coming a long way.”

Filed under: Players, Sacramento Monarchs