About an hour before tip-off, the scoreboard showed Kiesha Brown starting in place of Seimone Augustus because of a knee contusion suffered in Indiana. Luckily Seimone decided to try playing.

Unfortunately for MN fans, it was not enough as the Monarchs used superior rebounding and outside shooting to down the Lynx 74-64 before a crowd of 9,831. Seimone wowed the crowd with an impressive 28 points. But her teammates struggled offensively, especially Lindsey Harding. "It was a frustrating night for me on the offensive end," she said. "I did some other things well, but at some point you have to get some [shots] to fall."

The Lynx nearly overcame the hot shooting of Kara Lawson and Nicole Powell as they pulled within four points with almost three and a half minutes left, but the Monarchs hit 11 free throws to put the game out of reach. Although Ticha Penichiero missed most of the game with a groin injury and Yolanda Griffith only scored four points, Lynx coach Don Zierden points to the experience of the Monarchs as a key to the game.

With Detroit on the schedule tomorrow, the Lynx will be further tested. Playing these good teams right away tells us where we have to go,'' Nicole Ohlde said. "Things are looking up.''