1997 Houston Comets season

1997 Houston Comets season
WNBA champions
Coach	Van Chancellor
Arena	The Summit
Attendance	9,703 per game
Results
Record	18–10 (.643)
Place	1st (Eastern)
Playoff finish	Won WNBA Finals
1998 season →

The 1997 WNBA season was the first season for the Houston Comets. The Comets won the inaugural WNBA Finals.

Transactions

WNBA allocation draft

Player	Nationality	School/Team/Country
Cynthia Cooper	United States	USC
Sheryl Swoopes	United States	Texas Tech

WNBA elite draft

See also: WNBA elite draft

Round	Pick	Player	Nationality	School/Team/Country
1	5	Wanda Guyton	United States	South Florida
2	13	Janeth Arcain	Brazil	Brazil

WNBA draft

See also: 1997 WNBA draft

Round	Pick	Player	Nationality	School/Team/Country
1	1	Tina Thompson	United States	USC
2	16	Tammy Jackson	United States	Florida
3	17	Racquel Spurlock	United States	Louisiana Tech
4	32	Catarina Pollini	Italy	Texas

Transactions

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]

Roster

1997 Houston Comets roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. No. Nat. Name Height Weight DOB From Yrs G 9 Arcain, Janeth 5' 11" (1.8m) 147 lb (67kg) 1969-04-11 R G 14 Cooper, Cynthia 5' 10" (1.78m) 150 lb (68kg) 1963-04-14 USC R G/F 8 Gay, Pietra 5' 11" (1.8m) 1974-08-21 LSU R C 4 Guyton, Wanda 6' 1" (1.85m) 178 lb (81kg) 1968-10-14 South Florida R G/F 20 Harris, Fran 6' 0" (1.83m) 153 lb (69kg) 1965-03-12 Texas R F/C 23 Jackson, Tammy 6' 2" (1.88m) 190 lb (86kg) 1962-12-03 Florida R F/C 33 Moore, Yolanda 6' 0" (1.83m) 175 lb (79kg) 1974-07-01 Mississippi R G 10 Perrot, Kim 5' 5" (1.65m) 130 lb (59kg) 1967-01-18 Louisiana R F 11 Pollini, Catarina 6' 5" (1.96m) 1966-03-16 Texas R G/F 22 Swoopes, Sheryl 6' 0" (1.83m) 145 lb (66kg) 1971-03-25 Texas Tech R F 7 Thompson, Tina 6' 2" (1.88m) 178 lb (81kg) 1975-02-10 USC R G 5 Woosley, Tiffany 5' 7" (1.7m) 132 lb (60kg) 1973-04-26 Tennessee R	Head coach Van Chancellor (Mississippi State) Assistant coaches Peggie Gillom Legend (C) Team captain (DP) Unsigned draft pick (FA) Free agent (S) Suspended Injured

Schedule

Regular season

1997 game log Total: 18–10 (Home: 9–5; Road: 9–5)
June: 4–1 (Home: 2–1; Road: 2–0) Game Date Team Score High points High rebounds High assists Location Attendance Record 1 June 21 @ Cleveland W 76–56 Cynthia Cooper (25) Cynthia Cooper (8) Cynthia Cooper (2) Gund Arena 1–0 2 June 24 Phoenix W 72–55 Janeth Arcain (23) Janeth Arcain (8) Cynthia Cooper (3) The Summit 2–0 3 June 26 New York L 60–62 (OT) Cynthia Cooper (20) Wanda Guyton (9) Cynthia Cooper (3) The Summit 2–1 4 June 28 @ Utah W 76–58 Cynthia Cooper (20) Wanda Guyton (9) Cynthia Cooper (3) Delta Center 3–1 5 June 30 Los Angeles W 71–66 (OT) Janeth Arcain (17) Tammy Jackson (8) Cynthia Cooper (5) The Summit 4–1
July : 6–5 (Home: 3–2; Road: 3–3) Game Date Team Score High points High rebounds High assists Location Attendance Record 6 July 2 @ New York L 67–72 Cynthia Cooper (19) Wanda Guyton (8) Cynthia Cooper (6) Madison Square Garden 4–2 7 July 4 New York L 58–65 Tina Thompson (15) Arcain Harris (7) Cynthia Cooper (8) The Summit 4–3 8 July 7 Charlotte W 74–56 Cynthia Cooper (21) Tina Thompson (9) Cynthia Cooper (6) The Summit 5–3 9 July 9 @ Phoenix L 64–69 Cynthia Cooper (16) Tina Thompson (7) Kim Perrot (4) America West Arena 5–4 10 July 12 Sacramento W 89–61 Cynthia Cooper (20) Tina Thompson (10) Cynthia Cooper (8) The Summit 6–4 11 July 14 Utah W 79–56 Arcain Guyton (17) Fran Harris (8) Kim Perrot (4) The Summit 7–4 12 July 16 @ Los Angeles L 52–77 Cooper Thompson (17) Janeth Arcain (8) Arcain Cooper (3) Great Western Forum 7–5 13 July 18 @ Sacramento W 82–60 Cynthia Cooper (19) Tammy Jackson (12) Kim Perrot (7) ARCO Arena 8–5 14 July 23 @ Phoenix W 77–69 Cynthia Cooper (32) Janeth Arcain (7) Cynthia Cooper (6) America West Arena 9–5 15 July 25 @ Sacramento W 86–76 Cynthia Cooper (44) Wanda Guyton (7) Janeth Arcain (5) ARCO Arena 10–5 16 July 29 Cleveland L 64–73 Tina Thompson (24) Tina Thompson (9) Cynthia Cooper (5) The Summit 10–6
August : 8–4 (Home: 4–2; Road: 4–2) Game Date Team Score High points High rebounds High assists Location Attendance Record 17 August 1 @ Los Angeles W 81–57 Cynthia Cooper (34) Tina Thompson (9) Cynthia Cooper (5) Great Western Forum 11–6 18 August 2 @ Utah L 63–74 Tina Thompson (20) Tammy Jackson (6) Cooper Thompson (5) Delta Center 11–7 19 August 5 @ Cleveland W 76–66 Cynthia Cooper (30) Janeth Arcain (8) Cynthia Cooper (6) Gund Arena 12–7 20 August 7 Phoenix W 74–70 Cynthia Cooper (34) Tina Thompson (10) Kim Perrot (6) The Summit 13–7 21 August 9 Los Angeles W 72–71 (2OT) Kim Perrot (19) Tina Thompson (10) Cynthia Cooper (8) The Summit 14–7 22 August 11 @ Charlotte W 72–62 Cynthia Cooper (39) Tammy Jackson (7) Kim Perrot (7) Charlotte Coliseum 15–7 23 August 12 Utah W 76–56 Cynthia Cooper (21) Guyton Thompson (7) Kim Perrot (5) The Summit 16–7 24 August 16 @ Charlotte L 71–80 Sheryl Swoopes (20) Tina Thompson (6) Kim Perrot (7) Charlotte Coliseum 16–8 25 August 17 @ New York W 70–55 Cynthia Cooper (17) Jackson | Thompson (12) Kim Perrot (6) Madison Square Garden 17–8 26 August 19 Charlotte W 77–69 Cynthia Cooper (31) Wanda Guyton (10) Cooper Thompson (4) The Summit 18–8 27 August 21 Cleveland L 75–76 Kim Perrot (18) Wanda Guyton (10) Cynthia Cooper (9) The Summit 18–9 28 August 24 Sacramento L 58–68 Cynthia Cooper (16) Tina Thompson (9) Cynthia Cooper (5) The Summit 18–10
1997 season schedule

Playoffs

1997 playoff game log
Semifinal vs. Charlotte Sting Game Date Team Score High points High rebounds High assists Location Attendance Series 1 August 28 Charlotte W 54–70 Cynthia Cooper (31) Tina Thompson (12) Cynthia Cooper (5) The Summit 1–0
Championship vs. New York Liberty Game Date Team Score High points High rebounds High assists Location Attendance Series 1 August 30 New York W 65–51 Cynthia Cooper (25) Tammy Jackson (11) Cynthia Cooper (4) The Summit 1–0
1997 playoff schedule

Season standings

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

Statistics

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

Regular season

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

• Janeth Arcain ranked second in the WNBA in Free Throw Pct with .894
• Cynthia Cooper ranked fifth in the WNBA in assists with 131.
• Cynthia Cooper ranked sixth in the WNBA in Field Goal Percentage (.470)
• Cynthia Cooper ranked third in the WNBA in Free Throw Pct with .864
• Cynthia Cooper ranked first in the WNBA in field goals with 191.
• Cynthia Cooper ranked first in the WNBA in points with 621.
• Cynthia Cooper ranked fifth in the WNBA in minutes per game with 35.1
• Cynthia Cooper ranked fifth in the WNBA in steals with 59.
• Kim Perrot ranked ninth in the WNBA in assists with 88.
• Kim Perrot ranked third in the WNBA in steals with 69.
• Tina Thompson ranked ninth in the WNBA in points with 370 points.-
• Tina Thompson ranked seventh in the WNBA in total rebounds with 184
• Tina Thompson ranked ninth in the WNBA in points per game with 13.2
• Tina Thompson ranked seventh in the WNBA in Free Throw Pct with .838
• Tina Thompson tied for fifth in the WNBA in blocks with 28.

Awards and honors

• Cynthia Cooper, WNBA Most Valuable Player Award
• Cynthia Cooper, WNBA Finals MVP Award
• Cynthia Cooper, Guard, All-WNBA First Team
• Cynthia Cooper: Led WNBA, Field Goals 191 ^[2]
• Cynthia Cooper: Led WNBA, 3-Pt Field Goals, 67 ^[2]
• Cynthia Cooper: Led WNBA, Free Throws, 172 ^[2]
• Cynthia Cooper: Led WNBA, Free Throw Attempts, 199 ^[2]
• Cynthia Cooper: Led WNBA, Points, 621 ^[2]
• Cynthia Cooper: Led WNBA, Points per game, 22.2 ^[2]
• Cynthia Cooper: Ranked third in the WNBA in minutes played, 982
• Wanda Guyton: Second in WNBA (tied), Offensive Rebounds, 76 ^[2]
• Tina Thompson, Forward, All-WNBA First Team
• Van Chancellor, Coach of the Year ^[3]

References

1. "1997 Houston Comets Transactions". Basketball-Reference.com. Retrieved May 23, 2024.
2. "1997 WNBA Season Summary".
3. "Postseason Awards: 1997". WNBA.com. Retrieved September 4, 2022.

External links

• Comets on Basketball Reference