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 SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) - Although the Sacramento Monarchs' first-round grace was gone, they still had the grit and grind they needed to stay with their biggest rivals. And then Kara Lawson and Nicole Powell provided just enough graceful moments against the Los Angeles Sparks to put the Monarchs on the verge of a return trip to the WNBA finals.
Yolanda Griffith scored 18 points and hit the go-ahead layup with 10.3 seconds left in the Monarchs' 64-61 victory in Game 1 of the Western Conference finals on Thursday night.
Powell scored eight of her 17 points in the fourth quarter, and Lawson hit a tiebreaking 3-pointer with 48 seconds left for the defending league champion Monarchs, who rallied from a nine-point deficit late in the third quarter.
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