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Monarchs-Sparks Preview

Aug 13, 2009 - 5:42 PM By BRETT HUSTON STATS Writer

Sacramento (6-17) at Los Angeles (8-12), 10:30 p.m. EDT

The Sacramento Monarchs have been woeful all season away from home, but left their latest road contest with a convincing win over a playoff contender.

They haven't been nearly as impressive in Los Angeles in recent years.

The Monarchs have lost their last six regular-season games at Staples Center, a skid they'll hope to snap Friday night as they begin a home-and-home series with the Sparks.

Sacramento (6-17) has the league's worst record and visited San Antonio on Tuesday with a 2-9 road mark that was also the WNBA's worst.

The Monarchs looked nothing like a team that had lost nine of 11, however, largely thanks to Rebekkah Brunson. In her second game back from a right knee strain, she scored a season-high 19 points to help Sacramento cruise to a 90-73 win over the Silver Stars.

"We have a lot of pride in our locker room," Brunson said. "We're not going to give up. We could be 0-16 right now and we're still going to play hard."

While her effort against San Antonio was her most productive of the season, Brunson had one of her worst games June 21 against the Sparks. She had six points on 1 of 6 shooting and committed three turnovers in the Monarchs' ugly 67-47 loss that extended their slide in Los Angeles.

Nicole Powell had 18 points Aug. 1 in a 59-56 loss to the Sparks (8-12) in Sacramento, where the teams will complete their season series Saturday.

Los Angeles recorded its first back-to-back wins this season Aug. 6 against Seattle and Monday when it beat league-leading Indiana 75-63, but couldn't capitalize on that momentum the next night. Candace Parker and Lisa Leslie combined to go 7 of 27 from the field and the Sparks scored just 24 points after halftime in their 65-61 loss to New York.

"I knew this was going to be a tough game for us after playing a back-to-back," Los Angeles coach Michael Cooper said. "The frustrating part is we had an opportunity to win and we didn't go get it being at home."

Leslie and Parker didn't play in the Sparks' home win over Sacramento in June. Tina Thompson and Vanessa Hayden each had 12 points to lead Los Angeles in that game.

Parker, who missed the season's first six weeks after giving birth, has averaged 13.4 points and 10.6 rebounds in five games this month after averaging 7.1 points and 6.6 boards in her first seven games.