AUBURN HILLS, MICH. ? The Connecticut Sun didn’t want to embarrass themselves at the Palace of Auburn Hills again.

The Sun, losers of both regular season games on Detroit’s home court, beat the Shock, 73-62, in Game 1 of their first-round WNBA playoff series Wednesday night.

“It was extremely important for us just to play well here,” said Taj McWilliams-Franklin, who finished with 14 points and nine rebounds. “We stunk up the joint the first two times we were here, and we didn’t want to do that again. That was our first thought, before we even started to worry about winning.”

Nykesha Sales led the Sun with 19 points, including two key three-pointers in the second half.

“Any win on the road when you are playing a three-game series is important,” she said. “We aren’t taking anything for granted – Detroit is a team that always comes back.”

Monarchs 75, Sparks 72

Los Angeles – Yolanda Griffith and Nicole Powell each scored 18 points, and Sacramento held off a late rally to beat Los Angeles in a playoff opener.

The Monarchs blew most of a 16-point lead over the final eight minutes, but hung on when Lisa Leslie missed two layups in the final seconds.