# 2005 Sacramento Monarchs season

The 2005 WNBA season was the Monarch’s ninth season. The Monarchs finished the season by winning their first WNBA Championship.

## Offseason
### WNBA draft

| Round | Pick | Player | Position | Nationality | College |
| 1 | 9 | Kristin Haynie | Guard | United States | Michigan State |
| 2 | 22 | Chelsea Newton | Guard | United States | Rutgers |
| 3 | 30 | Anne O'Neil | Guard | United States | Iowa State |
| 3 | 35 | Cisti Greenwalt | Center | United States | Texas Tech |

## Regular season
### Season standings

| Western Conference | W | L | PCT | GB | Home | Road | Conf. |
| Sacramento Monarchs $^x$ | 25 | 9 | .735 | – | 15–2 | 10–7 | 17–5 |
| Seattle Storm $^x$ | 20 | 14 | .588 | 5.0 | 14–3 | 6–11 | 13–9 |
| Houston Comets $^x$ | 19 | 15 | .559 | 6.0 | 11–6 | 8–9 | 11–11 |
| Los Angeles Sparks $^x$ | 17 | 17 | .500 | 8.0 | 11–6 | 6–11 | 12–10 |
| Phoenix Mercury $^o$ | 16 | 18 | .471 | 9.0 | 11–6 | 5–12 | 12–10 |
| Minnesota Lynx $^o$ | 14 | 20 | .412 | 11.0 | 11–6 | 3–14 | 9–13 |
| San Antonio Silver Stars $^o$ | 7 | 27 | .206 | 18.0 | 5–12 | 2–15 | 3–19 |

### Season schedule

| Date | Opponent | Score | Result | Record |
| May 21 | @ Phoenix | 77-72 | Win | 1-0 |
| May 27 | @ San Antonio | 71-67 | Win | 2-0 |
| May 29 | @ Minnesota | 67-66 | Win | 3-0 |
| June 1 | @ Indiana | 60-61 | Loss | 3-1 |
| June 4 | Los Angeles | 81-53 | Win | 4-1 |
| June 7 | Indiana | 65-51 | Win | 5-1 |
| June 10 | Phoenix | 73-61 | Win | 6-1 |
| June 11 | @ Los Angeles | 74-81 | Loss | 6-2 |
| June 13 | Houston | 74-68 | Win | 7-2 |
| June 17 | Minnesota | 67-50 | Win | 8-2 |
| June 24 | Connecticut | 50-61 | Loss | 8-3 |
| June 26 | @ Washington | 62-57 | Win | 9-3 |
| June 28 | @ Connecticut | 66-70 | Loss | 9-4 |
| June 30 | @ New York | 61-50 | Win | 10-4 |
| July 1 | @ Detroit | 80-63 | Win | 11-4 |
| July 3 | @ Seattle | 67-74 | Loss | 11-5 |
| July 14 | San Antonio | 72-61 | Win | 12-5 |
| July 16 | Washington | 73-59 | Win | 13-5 |
| July 19 | @ Houston | 54-58 | Loss | 13-6 |
| July 22 | New York | 63-73 | Loss | 13-7 |
| July 24 | Detroit | 91-51 | Win | 14-7 |
| July 26 | Charlotte | 64-54 | Win | 15-7 |
| July 29 | Los Angeles | 79-59 | Win | 16-7 |
| July 31 | Minnesota | 67-54 | Win | 17-7 |
| August 2 | @ San Antonio | 67-57 | Win | 18-7 |
| August 4 | @ Charlotte | 76-58 | Win | 19-7 |
| August 7 | Houston | 55-45 | Win | 20-7 |
| August 12 | @ Phoenix | 62-76 | Loss | 20-8 |
| August 16 | @ Los Angeles | 72-63 | Win | 21-8 |
| August 18 | San Antonio | 64-57 | Win | 22-8 |
| August 20 | Seattle | 75-65 | Win | 23-8 |
| August 23 | Phoenix | 76-70 | Win | 24-8 |
| August 25 | @ Seattle | 63-76 | Loss | 24-9 |
| August 27 | @ Minnesota | 61-52 | Win | 25-9 |
| August 31 First Round, G1 | @ Los Angeles | 75-72 | Win | 1-0 |
| September 2 First Round, G2 | Los Angeles | 81-63 | Win | 2-0 |
| September 8 Conference Finals, G1 | @ Houston | 73-69 (OT) | Win | 3-0 |
| September 10 Conference Finals, G2 | Houston | 74-65 | Win | 4-0 |
| September 14 WNBA Finals, G1 | @ Connecticut | 69-65 | Win | 5-0 |
| September 15 WNBA Finals, G2 | @ Connecticut | 70-77 (OT) | Loss | 5-1 |
| September 18 WNBA Finals, G3 | Connecticut | 66-55 | Win | 6-1 |
| September 20 WNBA Finals, G4 | Connecticut | 62-59 | Win | 7-1 |

## Player stats

Note: GP = Games played; REB = Rebounds; AST = Assists; STL = Steals; BLK = Blocks; PTS = Points
| Player | GP | REB | AST | STL | BLK | PTS |
| Yolanda Griffith | 34 | 223 | 52 | 42 | 31 | 469 |
| Nicole Powell | 34 | 124 | 62 | 39 | 16 | 364 |
| DeMya Walker | 22 | 117 | 48 | 28 | 13 | 311 |
| Rebekkah Brunson | 34 | 187 | 16 | 28 | 15 | 265 |
| Ticha Penicheiro | 34 | 97 | 149 | 48 | 6 | 195 |
| Kara Lawson | 24 | 33 | 37 | 13 | 3 | 192 |
| Chelsea Newton | 34 | 66 | 55 | 24 | 9 | 148 |
| Hamchetou Maiga-Ba | 34 | 67 | 30 | 24 | 6 | 129 |
| Kristin Haynie | 30 | 62 | 43 | 33 | 1 | 104 |
| Erin Buescher | 23 | 29 | 14 | 16 | 5 | 76 |
| Olympia Scott | 18 | 33 | 5 | 4 | 2 | 38 |
| Miao Miao | 18 | 4 | 13 | 5 | 1 | 31 |
| Sui Feifei | 5 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 7 |

## Playoffs

| Round | Winner | Loser |
| Western Conference Semi-Finals Round | Sacramento 2 | Los Angeles 0 |
| Western Conference Finals | Sacramento 2 | Houston 0 |
| WNBA Finals | Sacramento 3 | Connecticut 1 |

## Awards and honors

* Yolanda Griffith, WNBA Finals MVP Award
* Nicole Powell, WNBA Most Improved Player Award
* John Whisenant, WNBA Coach of the Year Award