1997 New York Liberty season

Last updated

1997 New York Liberty season
Coach Nancy Darsch
Arena Madison Square Garden
Attendance13,270 per game
Results
Record17–11 (.607)
Place2nd (Eastern)
Playoff finishLost WNBA Finals

The 1997 WNBA season was the first season for the New York Liberty.

Contents

WNBA allocation draft

PlayerNationalitySchool/Team/Country
Rebecca Lobo Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States UConn
Teresa Weatherspoon Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States Louisiana Tech

WNBA elite draft

RoundPickPlayerNationalitySchool/Team/Country
14 Kym Hampton Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States Arizona State
212 Vickie Johnson Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States Louisiana Tech

WNBA draft

RoundPickPlayerNationalitySchool/Team/Country
16 Sue Wicks Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States Rutgers
211 Sophia Witherspoon Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States Florida
322 Trena Trice Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States NC State
427 Kisha Ford Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States Georgia Tech

Transactions

DateTransaction
January 22, 1997Drafted Rebecca Lobo and Teresa Weatherspoon in the 1997 WNBA Allocation Draft [1]
February 27, 1997Drafted Kym Hampton and Vickie Johnson in the 1997 WNBA Elite Draft [1]
April 19, 1997Hired Nancy Darsch as Head Coach [1]
April 28, 1997Drafted Sue Wicks, Sophia Witherspoon, Trena Trice and Kisha Ford in the 1997 WNBA Draft [1]
August 11, 1997Waived Jasmina Perazić-Gipe [1]

Roster

1997 New York Liberty roster
PlayersCoaches
Pos.No.Nat.NameHeightWeightDOBFromYrs
G 10 Flag of the United States.svg Blades, Rhonda 5' 7" (1.7m)138 lb (63kg)1972-10-29 Vanderbilt R
G 22 Flag of the United States.svg Crumpton-Moorer, Cassandra 5' 11" (1.8m)175 lb (79kg)1962-10-29 Alabama R
G/F 5 Flag of the United States.svg Ford, Kisha 5' 10" (1.78m)153 lb (69kg)1975-04-04 Georgia Tech R
C 34 Flag of the United States.svg Hampton, Kym 6' 2" (1.88m)210 lb (95kg)1962-11-03 Arizona State R
G/F 55 Flag of the United States.svg Johnson, Vickie 5' 9" (1.75m)150 lb (68kg)1972-04-15 Louisiana Tech R
C 50 Flag of the United States.svg Lobo, Rebecca 6' 4" (1.93m)185 lb (84kg)1973-10-06 Connecticut R
G/F 13 Flag of Yugoslavia (1946-1992).svg Perazić-Gipe, Jasmina 6' 0" (1.83m)1960-12-06 Maryland R
F/C 33 Flag of the United States.svg Trice, Trena 6' 2" (1.88m)180 lb (82kg)1965-08-04 NC State R
G 11 Flag of the United States.svg Weatherspoon, Teresa 5' 8" (1.73m)161 lb (73kg)1965-12-08 Louisiana Tech R
F 23 Flag of the United States.svg Wicks, Sue 6' 3" (1.91m)174 lb (79kg)1966-11-26 Rutgers R
G/F 13 Flag of the United States.svg Witherspoon, Sophia 5' 10" (1.78m)145 lb (66kg)1969-07-06 Florida R
Head coach
Flag of the United States.svg Nancy Darsch (Tennessee)
Assistant coaches
Flag of the United States.svg Melissa McFerrin
Flag of the United States.svg Lisa White
Legend
  • (C) Team captain
  • (DP) Unsigned draft pick
  • (FA) Free agent
  • (S) Suspended
  • Cruz Roja.svg Injured

Schedule

Regular season

1997 game log
Total: 17–11 (Home: 10–5; Road: 7–6)
June: 4–0 (Home: 1–0; Road: 3–0)
GameDateTeamScoreHigh pointsHigh reboundsHigh assistsLocation
Attendance		Record
1June 21@ Los Angeles W 67–57 Rebecca Lobo (16) Vickie Johnson (8) Teresa Weatherspoon (10) Great Western Forum 1–0
2June 23@ Sacramento W 73–62 Sophia Witherspoon (15) Rebecca Lobo (9) Vickie Johnson (3) ARCO Arena 2–0
3June 26@ Houston W 62–60 (OT) Hampton
Johnson
Lobo (10)		 Rebecca Lobo (8) Kisha Ford (4) The Summit 3–0
4June 29 Phoenix W 65–57 Vickie Johnson (20) Rebecca Lobo (9) Teresa Weatherspoon (5) Madison Square Garden 4–0
July : 10–4 (Home: 6–2; Road: 4–2)
GameDateTeamScoreHigh pointsHigh reboundsHigh assistsLocation
Attendance		Record
5July 2 Houston W 72–67 Sophia Witherspoon (14) Kym Hampton (9) Teresa Weatherspoon (6) Madison Square Garden 5–0
6July 4@ Houston W 65–58 Sophia Witherspoon (21) Rebecca Lobo (11) Teresa Weatherspoon (6) The Summit 6–0
7July 5@ Utah W 66–53 Sophia Witherspoon (14) Teresa Weatherspoon (11) Teresa Weatherspoon (5) Delta Center 7–0
8July 7@ Phoenix L 50–69 Vickie Johnson (11) Sophia Witherspoon (6) Teresa Weatherspoon (5) America West Arena 7–1
9July 9@ Charlotte L 69–87 Vickie Johnson (14) Rebecca Lobo (8) Teresa Weatherspoon (7) Charlotte Coliseum 7–2
10July 10 Charlotte W 62–48 Rebecca Lobo (16) Rebecca Lobo (11) Teresa Weatherspoon (7) Madison Square Garden 8–2
11July 14@ Cleveland W 68–57 Rebecca Lobo (18) Rebecca Lobo (8) Teresa Weatherspoon (5) Gund Arena 9–2
12July 15 Cleveland W 76–59 Sophia Witherspoon (16) Lobo
Wicks (8)		 Teresa Weatherspoon (8) Madison Square Garden 10–2
13July 17 Utah W 80–54 Rebecca Lobo (17) Kym Hampton (9) Teresa Weatherspoon (7) Madison Square Garden 11–2
14July 19 Los Angeles W 69–57 Sophia Witherspoon (24) Kym Hampton (9) Rebecca Lobo (5) Madison Square Garden 12–2
15July 22 Utah L 71–78 Sophia Witherspoon (16) Kym Hampton (7) Teresa Weatherspoon (6) Madison Square Garden 12–3
16July 23@ Charlotte W 65–63 Rebecca Lobo (17) Rebecca Lobo (4) Vickie Johnson (6) Charlotte Coliseum 13–3
17July 26 Charlotte L 61–64 Sophia Witherspoon (21) Rebecca Lobo (11) Teresa Weatherspoon (7) Madison Square Garden 13–4
18July 30 Sacramento W 73–68 Sophia Witherspoon (26) Rebecca Lobo (12) Teresa Weatherspoon (10) Madison Square Garden 14–4
August : 3–7 (Home: 3–3; Road: 0–4)
GameDateTeamScoreHigh pointsHigh reboundsHigh assistsLocation
Attendance		Record
19August 2 Phoenix W 80–70 Sophia Witherspoon (20) Kym Hampton (10) Vickie Johnson (6) Madison Square Garden 15–4
20August 5 Los Angeles L 50–67 Hampton
Witherspoon (12)		 Rebecca Lobo (10) Johnson
Weatherspoon (3)		 Madison Square Garden 15–5
21August 11@ Sacramento L 69–76 Kym Hampton (17) Kym Hampton (6) Teresa Weatherspoon (6) ARCO Arena 15–6
22August 12@ Phoenix L 67–77 Kym Hampton (14) Kym Hampton (11) Teresa Weatherspoon (8) America West Arena 15–7
23August 15 Sacramento W 79–63 Sophia Witherspoon (21) Kym Hampton (8) Teresa Weatherspoon (8) Madison Square Garden 16–7
24August 17 Houston L 55–70 Rebecca Lobo (13) Johnson
Lobo (6)		 Teresa Weatherspoon (5) Madison Square Garden 16–8
25August 19@ Utah L 75–81 Rebecca Lobo (27) Rebecca Lobo (9) Teresa Weatherspoon (5) Delta Center 16–9
26August 20@ Los Angeles L 76–78 Sophia Witherspoon (27) Johnson
Wicks (5)		 Teresa Weatherspoon (12) Great Western Forum 16–10
27August 23@ Cleveland L 71–72 Trena Trice (17) Kym Hampton (9) Johnson
Weatherspoon (5)		 Gund Arena 16–11
28August 24 Cleveland W 79–72 (OT) Kym Hampton (21) Rebecca Lobo (7) Teresa Weatherspoon (8) Madison Square Garden 17–11
1997 season schedule

Playoffs

1997 playoff game log
Semifinal vs. Phoenix Mercury
GameDateTeamScoreHigh pointsHigh reboundsHigh assistsLocation
Attendance		Series
1August 28@ Phoenix W 59–41 Rebecca Lobo (16) Kym Hampton (14) Teresa Weatherspoon (5) America West Arena 1–0
Championship vs. Houston Comets
GameDateTeamScoreHigh pointsHigh reboundsHigh assistsLocation
Attendance		Series
1 August 30 New York L 51–65 Kym Hampton (13) Kym Hampton (13) Teresa Weatherspoon (5) The Summit 1–0
1997 playoff schedule

Season standings

Eastern Conference WLPCTConf.GB
Houston Comets x1810.6436–6–
New York Liberty x1711.6078–41.0
Charlotte Sting x1513.5365–73.0
Cleveland Rockers o1513.5365–73.0

Statistics

Legend
  GPGames 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 gameTeam leaderLeague leader

Regular Season

PlayerGPGSMPGFG%3P%FT%RPGAPGSPGBPGPPG
Rebecca Lobo 282833.5.376.286.6107.31.90.91.812.4
Teresa Weatherspoon 282833.0.467.086.6504.16.23.00.17.0
Sophia Witherspoon 282831.0.406.349.7483.02.31.80.314.5
Vickie Johnson 262530.3.404.190.7714.22.50.70.29.6
Kym Hampton 282823.7.474.000.6405.81.41.40.79.8
Kisha Ford 28316.9.377.150.6141.70.91.00.24.1
Trena Trice 28012.1.554.250.6672.40.10.30.34.8
Sue Wicks 28011.9.355.286.6673.41.00.60.63.6
Rhonda Blades 28010.4.357.315.6500.81.10.50.02.9
Cassandra Crumpton-Moorer205.5.250.000N/A1.00.50.00.01.0
Jasmina Perazić-Gipe 905.2.385.000N/A1.20.40.30.01.1


‡Waived/Released during the season
†Traded during the season
≠Acquired during the season

[2]

Awards and honors

[3]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "1997 New York Liberty Transactions". Basketball-Reference.com. Retrieved May 22, 2024.
  2. 1 2 "1997 WNBA Season Summary".
  3. ↑ "Postseason Awards: 1997". WNBA.com. Retrieved September 4, 2022.
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