1997 Houston Comets season | |
---|---|
Coach | Van Chancellor |
Arena | The Summit |
Attendance | 9,703 per game |
Results | |
Record | 18–10 (.643) |
Place | 1st (Eastern) |
Playoff finish | Won WNBA Finals |
The 1997 WNBA season was the first season for the Houston Comets. The Comets won the inaugural WNBA Finals.
Player | Nationality | School/Team/Country |
---|---|---|
Cynthia Cooper | ![]() | USC |
Sheryl Swoopes | ![]() | Texas Tech |
Round | Pick | Player | Nationality | School/Team/Country |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 5 | Wanda Guyton | ![]() | South Florida |
2 | 13 | Janeth Arcain | ![]() | Brazil |
Round | Pick | Player | Nationality | School/Team/Country |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 1 | Tina Thompson | ![]() | USC |
2 | 16 | Tammy Jackson | ![]() | Florida |
3 | 17 | Racquel Spurlock | ![]() | Louisiana Tech |
4 | 32 | Catarina Pollini | ![]() | Texas |
Date | Transaction | |
---|---|---|
January 22, 1997 | Drafted Cynthia Cooper and Sheryl Swoopes in the 1997 WNBA Allocation Draft [1] | |
February 27, 1997 | Drafted Wanda Guyton and Janeth Arcain in the 1997 WNBA Elite Draft [1] | |
April 28, 1997 | Drafted Tina Thompson, Tammy Jackson, Racquel Spurlock and Catarina Pollini in the 1997 WNBA Draft [1] | |
Hired Van Chancellor as Head Coach [1] |
1997 Houston Comets roster | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Players | Coaches | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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1997 playoff game log | ||||||||||||||||||
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Semifinal vs. Charlotte Sting
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Championship vs. New York Liberty
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1997 playoff schedule |
Eastern Conference | W | L | PCT | Conf. | GB |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Houston Comets x | 18 | 10 | .643 | 6–6 | – |
New York Liberty x | 17 | 11 | .607 | 8–4 | 1.0 |
Charlotte Sting x | 15 | 13 | .536 | 5–7 | 3.0 |
Cleveland Rockers o | 15 | 13 | .536 | 5–7 | 3.0 |
Legend | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
GP | Games played | GS | Games started | MPG | Minutes per game | RPG | Rebounds per game |
APG | Assists per game | SPG | Steals per game | BPG | Blocks per game | PPG | Points per game |
FG% | Field-goal percentage | 3P% | 3-point field-goal percentage | FT% | Free-throw percentage | TO | Turnovers per game |
PF | Fouls per game | Team leader | League leader |
Player | GP | GS | MPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PPG |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Cynthia Cooper | 28 | 28 | 35.1 | .470 | .414 | .864 | 4.0 | 4.7 | 2.1 | 0.2 | 22.2 |
Tina Thompson | 28 | 28 | 31.6 | .418 | .370 | .838 | 6.6 | 1.1 | 0.8 | 2.2 | 13.2 |
Janeth Arcain | 28 | 27 | 28.0 | .440 | .273 | .894 | 3.9 | 1.6 | 1.5 | 2.4 | 10.9 |
Wanda Guyton | 25 | 25 | 26.7 | .467 | N/A | .559 | 5.4 | 0.5 | 1.0 | 1.7 | 6.1 |
Kim Perrot | 28 | 24 | 24.7 | .364 | .283 | .405 | 2.7 | 3.1 | 2.5 | 2.3 | 5.8 |
Tammy Jackson | 28 | 3 | 19.5 | .409 | .000 | .610 | 4.1 | 0.4 | 1.6 | 1.8 | 4.1 |
Tiffany Woosley | 26 | 4 | 15.3 | .330 | .320 | .250 | 1.1 | 1.1 | 0.7 | 1.2 | 2.9 |
Fran Harris | 25 | 1 | 14.8 | .346 | .333 | .710 | 2.2 | 1.0 | 0.7 | 1.2 | 4.2 |
Sheryl Swoopes | 9 | 0 | 14.3 | .472 | .250 | .714 | 1.7 | 0.8 | 0.8 | 0.4 | 7.1 |
Yolanda Moore | 13 | 0 | 7.2 | .250 | N/A | .500 | 1.0 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.5 | 1.2 |
Catarina Pollini | 13 | 0 | 7.2 | .364 | N/A | .500 | 0.9 | 0.4 | 0.3 | 0.7 | 1.7 |
Pietra Gay | 5 | 0 | 2.4 | .500 | N/A | .400 | 0.6 | 0.4 | 0.2 | 0.8 | 0.8 |
‡Waived/Released during the season
†Traded during the season
≠Acquired during the season
The Houston Comets were a Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) team based in Houston. Formed in 1997, the team was one of the original eight WNBA teams and won the first four championships of the league's existence. They are one of two teams in the WNBA that are undefeated in the WNBA Finals; the Seattle Storm are the other. The Comets were the first dynasty of the WNBA and are tied with the Minnesota Lynx and Seattle Storm for the most championships of any WNBA franchise. Despite all of their success, the team was folded and disbanded by the league in 2008 during the height of the Great Recession because new ownership could not be found.
Kim Perrot was an American basketball player. She played in the WNBA for the Houston Comets and won three championships, the third being a posthumous honor by the Comets.
Cynthia Lynne Cooper-Dyke is an American basketball coach and former player who has won championships in college, in the Olympics, and in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). She is considered by many as one of the greatest female basketball players ever. In 2011, Cooper-Dyke was voted by fans as one of the Top 15 players in WNBA history. Upon the league's formation, she played for the Houston Comets from 1997 to 2000, being named the Most Valuable Player of the WNBA Finals in all four seasons, and returned to play again in 2003. Cooper-Dyke still holds the record for most Finals MVPs with four. On April 30, 2019, she was introduced as the head coach for the Texas Southern Lady Tigers basketball team, a position she held in the 2012–13 season. She has also coached at USC, UNC Wilmington, Prairie View A&M, and, professionally, for the Phoenix Mercury. Cooper-Dyke was inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in 2009 and the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2010.
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