Monarchs clinch final spot in playoffs

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) Thanks to another strong effort at home, the Sacramento Monarchs can rest a lot easier on their upcoming two road games that conclude the regular season.

Nicole Powell scored 20 points to help the Monarchs clinch the final playoff berth in the Western Conference with a 77-74 victory over the Seattle Storm on Tuesday night.

Despite the Storm missing three starters, the victory didn't come easily for the Monarchs, who had to score the game's final seven points to secure their sixth straight visit to the postseason, which starts next week with a home game, where they haven't been beaten in eight games.

"Playing on someone else's home court, you never know what could happen, so this relieves the pressure for us," Powell said.

Kara Lawson added 19 points and had two big free throws in the closing seconds to help the Monarchs (18-14) secure the victory and move within a game of Los Angeles for the third seed in the Conference.

Katie Gearlds made her first five 3-point attempts and scored 17 points for Seattle. Tanisha Wright also had 17 points, Yolanda Griffith scored 16 and Camille Little added 12.

Sue Bird, who averaged 21.8 points in the previous five games, was limited to six points, six assists and committed four of Seattle's 24 turnovers.

"We didn't want her (Bird) to get the ball back once she gave it up, so we played more aggressive off the ball," said Lawson, who played with Bird in the Olympics. "She has been playing world class since the Olympics, so we wanted to limit her touches."

Trailing 74-70, Sacramento hit seven straight free throws to rally for the win. Powell's two gave the Monarchs a 75-75 lead with 21.5 seconds left.

"I was just trying to get to the basket (after the steal) and make a play," Powell said. "I got the two free throws and was able to knock them down."

After two Seattle misses, Lawson grabbed the rebound and made two free throws with 10.6 seconds remaining to make the score 77-74.

Gearlds finally missed a long 3-pointer in the final seconds and Bird had a shot blocked as the Monarchs secured the win.

"In terms of this game, you could list a lot of things that we didn't do well," Bird said. "We turned the ball over a lot and they out-rebounded us. But we were in a very good position to win this game in the fourth quarter and we didn't execute."

The Storm (21-11) fell out of a first-place tie with San Antonio, which defeated New York to take over the top spot in the West. Both Seattle and the Silver Stars have two games remaining in the regular season.

The depleted Storm played without three injured starters, Lauren Jackson (ankle), Swin Cash (back) and Sheryl Swoopes (mild concussion).

"This is crazy, it's been a roller coaster from beginning to where we are right now," said Griffith, who had seven rebounds, five assists and five steals against her former teammates. "It really hurts when you have three starters out. But we still had this game, we had an opportunity and it didn't happen."

Led by the outside shooting of Gearlds and Wright, plus the inside play of Griffith, the Storm battled back from a 10-point halftime deficit to pull within 60-59 heading into the fourth quarter.

Sacramento scored 11 straight points late in the second quarter to build a 44-34 halftime lead. Despite foul problems, Lawson scored 11 points for the Monarchs. Wright had 11 points for Seattle.

WNBA suspends 10 players and Mahorn for skirmish

The WNBA punished so many players for their roles in this week’s skirmish that the league is staggering the suspensions by alphabetical order.

“None of us can recall an incident like this,” WNBA president Donna Orender said Thursday during a conference call.

The league suspended Detroit assistant coach Rick Mahorn and 10 players following the dustup between the Shock and the visiting Los Angeles Sparks on Tuesday.

Shock forward Plenette Pierson was suspended for four games, the harshest penalty, for initiating and escalating the altercation.

“In our opinion, Plenette was the aggressor,” said Renee Brown, the WNBA’s chief of basketball operations and player relations

Mahorn was suspended for two games, as were Shannon Bobbitt and Murriel Page of the Sparks, for the incident at The Palace of Auburn Hills.

“As a team, we’re incensed that Rick Mahorn was suspended,” Detroit coach Bill Laimbeer said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press from Houston, where the Shock were scheduled to play the Comets. “He was trying to be a peacemaker and now he’s being thrown under the bus.”

Brown said Mahorn only started off as a peacemaker before he shoved Sparks star Lisa Leslie.

“Then he took it a step too far,” she said. “When he pushed Lisa, it escalated the situation.”

Players suspended for one game included Detroit’s Kara Braxton, Tasha Humphrey, Elaine Powell and Sheri Sam, along with Los Angeles’ Leslie, Candace Parker and DeLisha Milton-Jones.

Pierson was also fined $1,500 and Mahorn was docked $1,000. The rest of the players involved were fined $500 each.

“I think the fines that were handed out were just,” Los Angeles Sparks coach Michael Cooper said. “I don’t think there is anyone in this league that condones fighting. All players know what happens when you leave the floor and throw a punch. Unfortunately we’re missing four of our five starters. That’s something that we’ll have to deal with but that’s why they call it a team sport.”

Pam Wheeler, director of operations for the WNBA players’ union, said officials are in the process of interviewing players affected by the fines and suspensions while reviewing video of the end of the game.

“A determination of any appeals or grievances will be made shortly,” Wheeler said in a statement.

The melee at The Palace in suburban Detroit—where the infamous brawl between the Pistons, Indiana Pacers and fans was in 2004—broke out with 4.6 seconds left in a game won by the Sparks.

Parker and Pierson got tangled and fell to the court. Deanna Nolan tackled Parker, and Mahorn appeared to push Leslie to the court. Milton-Jones responded by punching Mahorn in the back.

The fracas started moments after Parker and Detroit’s Cheryl Ford had to be separated after Ford fouled Parker. After Ford tried to restrain Pierson, her right knee buckled and she left the floor in a wheelchair and will miss the rest of the season and playoffs due to a torn knee ligament.

Rare buzz was generated for the WNBA by the skirmish, but the source of the spotlight doesn’t thrill the league.

“There’s no doubt that there has been a tremendous amount of attention, but it’s not the type of attention that we seek,” Orender said.

Late scuffle mars Sparks win over Shock

AUBURN HILLS, Mich. (AP)—Candace Parker wanted to focus on all of the good parts of the Los Angeles Sparks’ win over the Detroit Shock.

Unfortunately, it will be the final 5 seconds that everyone else is going to remember.

Parker was one of three players ejected along with Detroit assistant coach Rick Mahorn after an ugly scuffle with 4.6 seconds left in Los Angeles’ 84-81 victory.

“To be honest, I don’t recall exactly what happened,” said Parker, who led Los Angeles with 21 points. “I’ll have to watch the tape.”

The skirmish started moments after Parker and Detroit’s Cheryl Ford had to be separated after Ford fouled Parker.

On the next possession, Parker got tangled up with Detroit’s Plenette Pierson and fell to the ground. As she was getting up, Pierson intentionally ran into her, setting off the melee.

Parker threw a punch at Pierson before being tackled by Detroit’s Deanna Nolan. Players and coaches from both teams joined in, and Mahorn knocked Lisa Leslie to the court at one point.

“I was trying to protect the whole game, the integrity of the game,” he said. “The WNBA is very special to me because I have four daughters. I don’t even raise my hand to them, and I would never push a woman. This game, I love this game too much.”

Mahorn was also involved in the 2004 Pistons-Pacers brawl while working as a Detroit broadcaster, going into the crowd to try to pull Ron Artest away from fans.

“Rick Mahorn is known as a peacemaker, from even the brawl we had here with Indiana,” Detroit coach Bill Laimbeer said. “He went out there to get people off the pile, and to get people to stop the confrontation. That’s who he is, that’s what he does.”

Leslie did not talk to the media, but Los Angeles coach Michael Cooper also said he felt Mahorn was trying to stop the fight.

“I think Rick was trying to play peacemaker, but he’s just too big,” Sparks coach Michael Cooper said. “I was only trying to grab my players, and I didn’t see exactly what happened, but he apparently gently tried to push Lisa away.”

DeLisha Milton-Jones shoved and punched Mahorn after the incident with Leslie, and was ejected, along with Mahorn, Parker and Pierson. Nolan and Shannon Bobbitt received technicals.

“That was unfortunate, but things like that happen in basketball sometimes,” Milton-Jones said. “The league is going to have to decide what kind of action to take.”

Ford sprained her right knee while trying to restrain Pierson, and left the floor in a wheelchair. Her status is unknown.

“I’m glad that none of our players got hurt, and I hope that Cheryl is OK,” Cooper said.

The brawl marred a key victory for Los Angeles, which came in having lost four of five.

“This was a game we needed badly, and we won it,” said Milton-Jones, who scored 19 points. “That’s the important part, despite what happened at the end.”

Detroit rallied from 21 down but missed a chance to win the game in the final 2 minutes. The Shock have now lost two straight at home after starting the season 10-0 at the Palace of Auburn Hills.

“You’re going to be down after losing two games in a row at home, especially emotional, last-minute games, and then throw Ford’s injury on top of that,” Laimbeer said. “I’m sure we’ll get a suspension or two here and there. We can’t get the (Olympic) break fast enough.”

Leslie finished with 10 points for Los Angeles, which swept the two-game season series. Olympic teammate Katie Smith led the Shock with 20 points.

“I haven’t seen something like that, I don’t think, in my whole career,” Smith said. “This is pretty rare.”

The Shock trailed 42-21 in the second quarter, but pulled within 76-75 in the final 90 seconds. Detroit rookie Alexis Hornbuckle then stole the ball from Parker, her former college teammate at Tennessee, but Nolan lost control while going in for what would have been a go-ahead layup.

“We dug ourselves a whole in the first half, because we didn’t come out ready to play,” Smith said. “Two straight games now we’ve given up a lot of points in the first half, and that’s something we’ve got to fix.”

Detroit 70, Connecticut 61

AUBURN HILLS, Mich., June 26 (AP) -- Deanna Nolan scored 13 points to lead a balanced Detroit Shock offense in a 70-61 victory over the Connecticut Sun on Thursday night.

Detroit (11-4) used an 11-1 third-quarter scoring run to build a commanding lead after Connecticut trimmed the Shock's lead to five.

Nolan's 3-point field goal with 3:44 remaining in the quarter gave the Shock a 50-37 lead before Cheryl Ford closed out the run off an offensive putback. Ford was one of three Shock players to score 10 points while Kara Braxton added 11.

Asjha Jones led the Sun (11-4) with 14 points.

Plenette Pierson, who scored 11 points in helping the Shock build its lead, left the game in the third quarter with a right knee strain.

Detroit, which rebounded from a lopsided loss to the Sun in Connecticut on Tuesday, led 37-27 at halftime after scoring 15 unanswered points to finish the first quarter and begin the second.

Shock 89, Mercury 79

PHOENIX, June 14 (AP) -- Rookie Tasha Humphrey

scored a season-high 28 points to lead the Detroit Shock to an 89-79 win over the Phoenix Mercury on Saturday in a rematch of last year's championship series.

The game was the first between the teams since the Mercury beat Detroit in game five of the finals Sept. 16 to win the WNBA title.

The former Georgia star was 10-of-15 shots from the floor and added eight rebounds to help the Shock (8-3) break a two-game losing streak. Her previous best was eight points against Los Angeles on June 11.

Shock rookie Alexis Hornbuckle, a 5-foot-11 guard from Tennessee, grabbed a season-high 15 rebounds, and Detroit outrebounded Phoenix 51-41 overall. Katie Smith added 18 points for the Shock, Deanna Nolan had 14, and Hornbuckle finished with 11.

The loss dropped Phoenix to 2-6. Only Washington and Houston have fewer wins.

To exacerbate the Mercury's difficulties, Diana Taurasi, coming off a WNBA season-high of 37 points against Seattle, shot a miserable 1-for-13 for just nine points. Adding to her frustration, the all-league performer fouled out and picked up just four rebounds in her 34 minutes of playing time. Coming into the game, Taurasi, in her fourth year out of Connecticut, led the league in scoring with a 25.6 average.

Cappie Pondexter led the Mercury with 28 points, and Le'coe Willingham added 17.