Monarchs Blog and Q&A

Bee staff writer Melody Gutierrez grew up in Twentynine Palms. At 14-years-old, she decided to combine her two passions -- sports and writing -- when she became a special assignments reporter for the Desert Trail, her hometown weekly newspaper. Melody headed to Northern California in 2000 to attend Chico State and has remained in the region ever since. She earned an internship with The Bee and subsequently became a staff writer in 2004 and has covered virtually every sport, starting with high schools, up through college and then the pros. Melody took over coverage of the Monarchs last season and chronicled the team's pursuit of a second straight league championship -- a quest that fell just short.

Melody welcomes your questions and will answer as many as she can as the season progresses.

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September 05, 2007

Monarchs left off All-WNBA teams

The WNBA announced its most prized awards Wednesday as players from eight squads topped the all-league teams. Not surprisingly, Seattle's Lauren Jackson was named the Most Valuable Player and was placed on the All-WNBA first team. Other players making the first-team were Becky Hammon of San Antonio, Diana Taurasi and Penny Taylor of Phoenix and Deanna Nolan of Detroit.

Second-team honors went to Tamika Catchings of Indiana, Katie Douglas of Connecticut, Tina Thompson of Houston, Seimone Augustus of Minnesota and Sophia Young of San Antonio.

The Monarchs and the New York Liberty were the only playoff teams not to have a player on either team. Teams are voted on by members of the media.

This is the second consecutive season that the Monarchs did not have a representative. Monarchs veteran center Yolanda Griffith earned first-team honors in 2005 and second team in 2004. Before that, both Griffith and point guard Ticha Penicheiro were selected to the second-team in 2001. Penicheiro earned first-team honors in 2000, while Griffith earned second-team that year. Griffith and Penicheiro were both first-team selections in 1999. Retired guard Ruthie Bolton was named to the first-team in 1997.

-- Melody Gutierrez

Posted by tnegrete, September 5, 2007 03:57 PM

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