SACRAMENTO, Calif., June 7 (AP) -- Rebekkah Brunson seems even taller than her listed 6-foot-2, with lanky arms and an impressive vertical leap. The Monarchs forward used her gifts Thursday night to grab as many offensive rebounds as the entire Seattle Storm.
Kara Lawson scored 16 points, Yolanda Griffith added 14 and Brunson led Sacramento's game plan to take advantage of Lauren Jackson's absence inside in its third straight victory, 81-72.
Though both clubs played without their top inside scorers, the Storm missed their Australian center more than the Monarchs suffered without injured forward DeMya Walker, who has been more-than-capably replaced by Brunson.
The athletic third-year pro from Georgetown who's taking advantage of her big chance to be more than the physical specimen on the Monarchs' bench.
"Being a starter is nice, but I just wanted to keep getting better this season,'' said Brunson, who had 13 points and 10 rebounds - seven on the offensive end. "We knew they're a big team and they like to hit the boards, so we had to get in there and get after it.''
Jackson didn't make the trip to Sacramento because of an illness, while Walker is out for the season after tearing a ligament in her right knee during the Monarchs' home opener last week.
Chelsea Newton scored 14 points in Sacramento's typically balanced attack. Nicole Powell had 13 points and 10 rebounds in the Monarchs' 12th consecutive home victory, a regular-season franchise record.
"We're all doing it collectively,'' said Monarchs coach Jenny Boucek, a onetime Storm assistant who beat her former boss, Anne Donovan. "Yes, Rebekkah is playing very well, but our team is built on different people doing well at different times. I don't see this team getting selfish, because that's not what we do.''
Sacramento had a comfortable lead until Seattle scored 11 consecutive points in the final minutes, trimming it to 71-69 on Sue Bird's fifth 3-pointer with 2:02 to play. But Lawson made two free throws and Powell hit a tough jumper with 1:06 left to seal it.
"We had a good opportunity after a 20-second timeout, and we didn't execute,'' Donovan said. "We knew we had to take care of the rebounds and take care of the ball, and we didn't do either one.''
Bird, who left Seattle's previous game with a knee injury, had 21 points. Iziane Castro Marques scored 12 for the Storm, who haven't won in Sacramento since the 2004 season.
"Because of the defense they play, a lot of what we worked on in practice was driving and kicking,'' Bird said. "My teammates did a great job of getting me the ball. But (the Monarchs) offensive-rebound so well, and we had a bit of a breakdown in the fourth quarter.''
After scoring just 33 points in the first half, Sacramento put up 31 in the third quarter on 12-of-19 shooting, including three 3-pointers and a 12-3 run midway through the period.
With Kings forward Ron Artest eating nachos at a courtside seat, Seattle gradually trimmed the deficit in the fourth quarter, getting two key 3-pointers from Bird at spots well behind the line.
Ticha Penicheiro left the court with 8:39 to play after Castro Marques hit her in the face with an elbow on a drive to the hoop. Penicheiro's nose wasn't broken - only badly bruised.
With three wins in hand, Sacramento's four-game homestand concludes Saturday against Phoenix, perhaps the top obstacle to the two-time Western Conference champions' quest for a third straight trip to the WNBA finals.
Boucek was Donovan's assistant for three seasons before taking a scouting job with the SuperSonics, and she also played four years at Virginia with Storm forward Wendy Palmer.
