At Beijing's Wukesong Indoor Stadium, the 11,083 fans assembled for Saturday's women's basketball gold medal game seemed to give passing notice to a substitution made late in the first quarter.

At Center Court with C-Webb, Chris Webber's restaurant in Natomas, a gathering of about 250 Monarchs fans lost their minds.

Early Saturday morning, the Monarchs and Center Court hosted a viewing party and breakfast for players and fans – most of whom were clad in red T-shirt replicas of Lawson's No. 7 Team USA jersey – to converge and watch their captain try to achieve Olympic gold.

"I'm just so proud of her," said teammate DeMya Walker, who first met Lawson while playing college ball at Virginia when Lawson was an area prep star. "You always dream of playing in the Olympics, and her dream came true."

Lawson, who entered the game with 3:52 remaining in the first quarter and sparked a 12-2 run that gave the United States the lead for good, paced the Americans with 15 points in an easy 92-65 victory over Australia. The Aussies have now lost to the Americans in the gold-medal game in the past three Olympics, with all three defeats coming by double-digit margins.

Every time Lawson touched the ball – or even appeared on one of Center Court's 26 big-screen televisions – the Monarchs faithful went wild.

All this for a player who was one of the final three added to the roster last month, and whose 8.8 points per game average was the second-lowest on Team USA.

But what made Lawson stand out was her hard work and dedication, so much so she cut her honeymoon short with new husband Damien "D-Lo" Barling in April to train for a spot on the roster.

"You always root for the underdog," said Monarchs season-ticket holder Sharie Fontana of Woodland, who woke up at 5 a.m. to drive to Natomas. "She doesn't always stand out, and she's had to work for everything, including this (national team roster) spot.

"I'm very proud of how she represented herself, the Monarchs and the fans of Sacramento."

Fontana had been waking at 5 a.m. throughout the Olympics to catch every U.S. women's basketball game, and said that as a devout Tennessee Lady Volunteers fan she feels a particular bond to Lawson, who excelled there in college. An autographed photo of Lawson hangs in her home office, and Fontana sports a white autographed Lawson jersey to Monarchs home games.

In the gold-medal game, Lawson was perfect. She made all five of her field-goal attempts, including one three-pointer, and all four free-throw attempts. She added three rebounds and two assists to steal the show from more tenured Olympic veterans such as four-time gold medalist Lisa Leslie and Katie Smith.

"We've said from Day 1 that top to bottom we are a deep team," Lawson told reporters in Beijing. "We just send wave after wave of players at you."

Lawson's teammates at home had little doubt.

"I knew she would come up big today," Monarchs rookie Laura Harper said. "She has that winner's mentality."

Harper was Lawson's teammate and roommate in April's pre-Olympic Good Luck Tournament in Beijing.

Lawson won't have much time to rest when she rejoins the Monarchs this week. Her teammates, including Leslie, once again will become rivals.

The Monarchs, one of the hottest teams in the WNBA before the Olympic break and clinging to one of four Western Conference playoff spots, play the Los Angeles Sparks at Staples Center on Thursday.

It's the first game of an seven-game stretch drive before the playoffs.

Call The Bee's John Parker, (916) 326-5519.