In a game where the lead and momentum changed often, the Monarchs had both at the most important time and held off the Storm 76-74.

Betty Lennox was nearly unstoppable in the first half scoring 13 points in the second quarter to give the Storm a seven point lead at half-time. But Kara Lawson and Ticha Penicheiro helped change the momentum in the second half. Lawson scored seven of her team high 16 points to cut the Storm's lead to two going into the fourth quarter. Penicheiro became more agressive on both ends of the floor. "She was determined that we weren't going to lose this game," Monarchs coach John Whisenant said.

The Storm clung to a one point lead with 3:15 remaining, when they turned the ball over on two consecutive possessions that resulted in baskets by Erin Buescher. Despite this and only connecting on 2 of 12 from the floor in the final quarter, the Storm stayed close by getting to the free throw line. Barb Turner intentionally missed her last free throw attempt with less than two seconds left in the game, but the Storm could not get the ball.

Sue Bird: "The thing with this team is you can’t give them offensive rebounds and you can’t turn the ball over and we took care of half of that. Turnovers are going to happen, it’s part of the game, but our turnovers led to a lot of fast-break layups. That’s really where it hurt us."