Sept. 2, 2006

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Wow, didn't think I would be writing another one of these but there definitely is a worthy cause. Most of you know that I left Baylor early to attend training camp with the WNBA's Sacramento Monarchs.

Well, as stressful and tough as that month was, I made the team over some very talented girls, who even were draft picks. The Monarchs, who won the WNBA championship the previous year, put me in more of a reserve player role than the player who comes right in and make an impact. But, sitting behind the great teammates I have is definitely not a bad place to be. Some of my teammates you may recognize include Yolanda Griffith, Ticha Peneicheiro, Kara Lawson of Tennessee, Nicole Powell of Stanford, and Kristin Haynie, who most of you would remember as the point guard from Michigan State (surprisingly enough she and I get along really well as long as we don't talk about the Final Four that year). After a long summer of ups and downs and whatnot, I found myself on another championship run with the Sacramento Monarchs, and wanted to share this experience with you guys who played such a huge part of the championship I already have.

Well first lets back track and give you all a recap of the playoff run. We started in Houston going against the third-seeded team who had already beat us three-out-of-four times in the regular season. We ran away with the first contest to our surprise and especially the Comets'. It was an ideal game where everything just seemed to be going our way, but the biggest surprise was when they came to Sacramento and we dominated them again by almost 30 points, wrapping up that series in two games and getting to rest a day before taking on the regular season conference champion L.A. Sparks, who also had a regular season advantage against us winning all three games. The first match-up with them was as sloppy as sloppy can be and came down to the last three minutes or so before we pulled it out. The second game, however, was much like the Houston games where we were just running on all cylinders and completely in the zone. So again we wrapped up the series in two games and became back-to-back Western Conference champs. The next day we had off to spend as we pleased in L.A., so without going into detail, that was the perfect place to celebrate and relax at the same time before getting back to work.

We flew out the next morning to Detroit and settled in for a long week since they were hosting the first two games on their court. Travel ended up taking the majority of the day considering we lost a lot of hours flying across the country, so we got to the hotel and called it a night. Most of the girls however, ended up checking out the fitness center in the hotel and working up a liittle sweat. Game day was routine, except the media was everywhere you turned during our shoot around. We tried to maintain our usual demeanor and focus on the task at hand, and when the ball was tipped that night, it showed how focused we really were. We came out the gates running and hitting shots, hitting the boards and basically doing everything it took to come away with a big win.

The next day was big for us because even though we won by a large margin, there were still things we had to correct to ensure our dominance on defense and to keep the series on our favor. Unlike the first two series, the championship series is a best-out-of-five set up so if we could leave Detroit with two wins we could wrap it up on our home court. Or even the one win we had would allow for that but we were being greedy and wanted to get it in three. So that was the plan and after a hard practice we rested up for the big game.

Speaking of practice, I don't get to suit up during games because the roster only allows for 11 players every game and two inactive players in case someone gets hurt or whatnot. However during practices the reserve players, including the inactive players, play a big part in being the scout team and attacking the starters as thought we were the opposing team. We come early and learn their plays, watch film and basically try and create game- like situations so we can make small corrections beforehand. It's kind of been my role all season to do that and I have definitely accepted it and my teammates hate me on game days because I take it pretty seriously and get after it on the scout team.

So game two put a little pressure on Detroit who had not only got blown out the first game but knew they needed to get a win if they wanted a fighting chance once the series got to Sacramento. Well since the stakes got personal, the game became very ugly in terms of fouls and aggressiveness. There were tempers flaring from coaches, refs, players, and fans. It was a hostile environment and you could see the fight and passion on everyone's face in that gym. After a hard fought three quarters, we let the game slip away and Detroit came away with some big shots and a win.

So here we are on our way to the hotel to head out early in the morning back to Sacramento with the series tied 1-1. I'm even more excited that my mo is flying in to come get a piece of this experience as well. The game will be televised on Sunday at 3:30 central on ESPN2. It's going to be a battle for the lead in the series and I know my team will be ready because I will get my girls prepared in practice tomorrow. If you can catch the game please do and look for me when they get a shot of the bench cause I'll be there cheering my team on to what hopefully will be another championship ring to add to my collection.