Sacramento at Seattle Storm - 7 p.m. Hear it on Sports 1140 KHTK

1) The Monarchs (14-10) look to rebound from their loss to the Lynx on Sunday, while the Storm (13-13) look to even the season series with the Monarchs at one apiece.

2) The Storm has lost five of their past seven contests, despite the offensive onslaught of their superstar, Lauren Jackson. Jackson became the youngest player in WNBA history to amass 4,000 points in a win over the Fever on Friday. She also tallied a WNBA record-tying (Diana Taurasi) 47 points in a Storm overtime loss to the Mystics last Tuesday.

3) Nicole Powell turned in a highlight reel worthy performance Sunday, but it was overshadowed by the Lynx victory. Powell was in the zone, the type where it looked like she could chuck up just about anything in the vicinity of the hoop and it would go in. Powell finished the game with a career-high 29 points, six boards and three steals. Powell is the Monarchs leading scorer, chipping in nearly 13 points per outing, but the most impressive thing about her performance is that she scored almost half of her points in the final 6:20 of the game. During that time, which saw the Monarchs close the deficit to two points, Powell dropped an incredible 14 points from inside, midrange, and long range.

4) When asked earlier in the season about their favorite places to travel when the team hits the road, a number of Monarchs quickly said, Seattle! Why? Not only because more than half of the team drinks coffee (a capital of sorts, for caffeine lovers) also, because it is one of the shortest flights for the Monarchs. And with the team nearing a four game, seven day road trip, the Monarchs will relish the short jaunt up the Pacific Northwest coast.

5) The Monarchs have just 10 games remaining in the 2007 regular season. They currently lead the Storm by two games in the Western Conference playoff race. The Monarchs currently sit two games out of first place, held by the Silver Stars and one game back from the Mercury. The Monarchs only play three games against the Storm in the regular season, so a win tonight, or Friday, clinches the season series and would-be tie-breaker over the Storm.

Closing thought…
The Monarchs lead the WNBA with 9.58 steals per game and rank second in positive rebounding differential. The Monarchs continue to lead the league in holding their opponents to fewest points allowed per outing (70.38). A key difference in their recent inconsistency, despite the aforementioned encouraging statistics, the Monarchs are allowing teams to shoot 42 percent from the field, which has translated into the opposition scoring 70-plus points in 14 games against the Monarchs this season. The problem with allowing opponents to that mark on average is that the Monarchs are just 4-10 when allowing 70-plus points to their foe.