The Sacramento Monarchs have won the opening game of the Women's National Basketball Association finals, beating the host Connecticut Sun, 69-65.
Yolanda Griffith made the most of her first appearance in the WNBA championship series, scoring 25 points to lead Sacramento. The Monarchs lost both regular season meetings against Connecticut and handed the Sun only their four loss on their home court this season. The game was watched by 8200 fans.
Nykesha Sales led Connecticut with 23 points. Her three-point field goal with 86 seconds left in the game pulled the Sun within three points (at 66-63). The Sun had a chance to tie it on their next possession but Lindsay Whalen missed a wide open three-pointer from the right wing and Sacramento hit 3 of 4 free throws to seal the victory.
Game 2 in the best-of-five game series is on Thursday night, 8pm EDT, in Connecticut.
Some information for this report provided by AP.