1997 Utah Starzz season

Last updated

1997 Utah Starzz season
Coach Denise Taylor
Arena Delta Center
Attendance7,611 per game
Results
Record7–21 (.250)
Place4th (Western)
Playoff finishDid not qualify

The 1997 WNBA season was the inaugural season for the Utah Starzz. The Starzz were partially named after the old ABA team, the Utah Stars, but with the zz at the end like the Utah Jazz. The franchise held the distinction of having the worst record in the WNBA in 1997.

Contents

Transactions

WNBA allocation draft

PlayerNationalitySchool/Team/Country
Elena Baranova Flag of the Soviet Union.svg  Soviet Union CSKA Moscow (Russia)
Lady Hardmon Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States Georgia

WNBA elite draft

RoundPickPlayerNationalitySchool/Team/Country
11 Dena Head Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States Tennessee
29 Wendy Palmer Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States Virginia

WNBA draft

RoundPickPlayerNationalitySchool/Team/Country
15 Tammi Reiss Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States Virginia
212 Jessie Hicks Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States Maryland
321 Raegan Scott Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States Colorado
428 Kim Williams Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States DePaul

Transactions

DateTransaction
January 22, 1997Drafted Elena Baranova and Lady Hardmon in the 1997 WNBA Allocation Draft [1]
February 27, 1997Drafted Dena Head and Wendy Palmer in the 1997 WNBA Elite Draft [1]
April 19, 1997Hired Denise Taylor as Head Coach [1]
April 28, 1997Drafted Tammi Reiss, Jessie Hicks, Raegan Scott and Kim Williams in the 1997 WNBA Draft [1]
June 20, 1997Waived Megan Compain [1]

Roster

1997 Utah Starzz roster
PlayersCoaches
Pos.No.Nat.NameHeightWeightDOBFromYrs
F 28 Flag of the Soviet Union.svg Baranova, Elena 6' 5" (1.96m)182 lb (83kg)1972-01-28R
C 40 Flag of the United States.svg Booker, Karen6' 1" (1.85m)170 lb (77kg)1965-04-10 Vanderbilt R
G/F 34 Flag of the United States.svg Carter, Deborah 6' 1" (1.85m)185 lb (84kg)1972-01-03 Georgia R
G 22 Flag of New Zealand.svg Compain, Megan 5' 9" (1.75m)1975-09-18 Saint Joseph's R
F 27 Flag of the United States.svg Hardmon, Lady 5' 10" (1.78m)160 lb (73kg)1975-09-12 Georgia R
G 11 Flag of the United States.svg Head, Dena 5' 10" (1.78m)175 lb (79kg)1970-08-16 Tennessee R
F/C 25 Flag of the United States.svg Hicks, Jessie 6' 4" (1.93m)188 lb (85kg)1971-12-02 Maryland R
F 15 Flag of the United States.svg Koss, Greta6' 1" (1.85m)145 lb (66kg)1974-06-12 Montana R
F 14 Flag of the United States.svg Palmer, Wendy 6' 2" (1.88m)165 lb (75kg)1974-08-12 Virginia R
G 32 Flag of the United States.svg Reiss, Tammi 5' 6" (1.68m)129 lb (59kg)1970-04-02 Virginia R
F/C 52 Flag of the United States.svg Scott, Raegan 6' 3" (1.91m)169 lb (77kg)1975-08-12 Colorado R
G 23 Flag of the United States.svg Williams, Kim 5' 6" (1.68m)136 lb (62kg)1974-10-14 DePaul R
Head coach
Flag of the United States.svg Denise Taylor (Texas Southern)
Assistant coaches
Flag of the United States.svg Greg Williams
Legend
  • (C) Team captain
  • (DP) Unsigned draft pick
  • (FA) Free agent
  • (S) Suspended
  • Cruz Roja.svg Injured

Schedule

Regular season

1997 game log
Total: 7–21 (Home: 5–10; Road: 2–12)
June: 1–3 (Home: 1–2; Road: 0–1)
GameDateTeamScoreHigh pointsHigh reboundsHigh assistsLocation
Attendance		Record
1June 21 Sacramento L 60–70 Tammi Reiss (14) Baranova
Palmer
Reiss (7)		 Lady Hardmon (6) Delta Center 0–1
2June 23 Los Angeles W 102–89 Wendy Palmer (28) Elena Baranova (10) Baranova
Reiss (5)		 Delta Center 1–1
3June 26@ Cleveland L 63–74 Wendy Palmer (15) Wendy Palmer (12) Baranova
Palmer
Williams (4)		 Gund Arena 1–2
4June 28 Houston L 58–76 Wendy Palmer (14) Baranova
Carter (6)		Booker
Palmer (4)		 Delta Center 1–3
July : 3–10 (Home: 1–4; Road: 2–6)
GameDateTeamScoreHigh pointsHigh reboundsHigh assistsLocation
Attendance		Record
5July 2@ Sacramento W 73–68 (OT) Wendy Palmer (18) Wendy Palmer (11) Kim Williams (5) ARCO Arena 2–3
6July 3 Phoenix L 55–77 Wendy Palmer (19) Elena Baranova (12) Hicks
Williams (2)		 Delta Center 2–4
7July 5 New York L 53–66 Lady Hardmon (14) Wendy Palmer (10) Kim Williams (4) Delta Center 2–5
8July 7 Sacramento L 69–79 Wendy Palmer (20) Wendy Palmer (6) Lady Hardmon (5) Delta Center 2–6
9July 11@ Los Angeles L 68–75 Wendy Palmer (17) Elena Baranova (8) Baranova
Williams 		Great Western Forum 2–7
10July 12 Phoenix W 52–51 Wendy Palmer (15) Wendy Palmer (10) Lady Hardmon (6) Delta Center 3–7
11July 14@ Houston L 56–79 Lady Hardmon (14) Elena Baranova (13) Kim Williams (10) The Summit 3–8
12July 16@ Charlotte L 63–75 Palmer
Williams (17)		 Tammi Reiss (7) Reiss
Williams (5)		 Charlotte Coliseum 3–9
13July 17@ New York L 54–80 Hardmon
Palmer (14)		 Lady Hardmon (6) Kim Williams (4) Madison Square Garden 3–10
14July 21@ Cleveland L 68–95 Elena Baranova (25) Elena Baranova (7) Baranova
Williams (4)		 Gund Arena 3–11
15July 22@ New York W 78–71 Elena Baranova (23) Wendy Palmer (10) Reiss
Williams (4)		 Madison Square Garden 4–11
16July 26 Cleveland L 66–77 Elena Baranova (26) Elena Baranova (9) Tammi Reiss (5) Delta Center 4–12
17July 30@ Los Angeles L 69–91 Tammi Reiss (15) Wendy Palmer (8) Dena Head (7) Great Western Forum 4–13
August : 3–8 (Home: 3–3; Road: 0–5)
GameDateTeamScoreHigh pointsHigh reboundsHigh assistsLocation
Attendance		Record
18August 2 Houston W 74–63 Elena Baranova (17) Elena Baranova (12) Hardmon
Head
Koss (3)		 Delta Center 5–13
19August 4 Charlotte W 73–70 Baranova
Reiss (17)		 Wendy Palmer (9) Tammi Reiss (8) Delta Center 6–13
20August 6@ Phoenix L 46–78 Elena Baranova (16) Baranova
Palmer (5)		 Tammi Reiss (5) America West Arena 6–14
21August 8@ Sacramento L 78–93 Wendy Palmer (25) Wendy Palmer (9) Hardmon
Reiss (4)		 ARCO Arena 6–15
22August 11 Cleveland L 59–74 Tammi Reiss (12) Wendy Palmer (11) Lady Hardmon (5) Delta Center 6–16
23August 12@ Houston L 56–76 Wendy Palmer (18) Wendy Palmer (11) Lady Hardmon (4) The Summit 6–17
24August 16 Los Angeles L 64–74 Wendy Palmer (27) Wendy Palmer (13) Tammi Reiss (4) Delta Center 6–18
25August 17@ Phoenix L 63–71 (OT) Wendy Palmer (21)Greta Koss (11) Tammi Reiss (4) America West Arena 6–19
26August 19 New York W 81–75 Wendy Palmer (19) Wendy Palmer (9) Dena Head (4) Delta Center 7–19
27August 21 Charlotte L 56–66 Wendy Palmer (20) Wendy Palmer (14) Baranova
Head
Palmer
Reiss (3)		 Delta Center 7–20
28August 24@ Charlotte L 52–70 Jessie Hicks (13) Elena Baranova (10) Elena Baranova (4) Charlotte Coliseum 7–21
1997 season schedule

Season standings

Western Conference WLPCTConf.GB
Phoenix Mercury x1612.5719–3–
Los Angeles Sparks o1414.5008–42.0
Sacramento Monarchs o1018.3574–86.0
Utah Starzz o721.2503–99.0

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
Wendy Palmer 282833.4.374.250.6768.01.71.70.215.8
Elena Baranova 282732.6.390.377.6947.42.21.52.312.2
Tammi Reiss 282629.7.312.297.7642.83.10.80.17.7
Lady Hardmon 282424.7.347.100.6553.02.40.80.15.5
Kim Williams 281021.7.384.265.7742.92.11.40.38.1
Greta Koss131020.6.517.667.7502.80.80.70.33.4
Dena Head 27417.4.390.313.8842.31.70.50.35.7
Deborah Carter 18715.9.385.143.7142.70.40.70.13.9
Karen Booker26412.3.333.000.5683.10.90.90.62.3
Jessie Hicks 26010.1.463.000.5631.40.40.50.43.2
Reagan Scott 805.4.385N/A1.0000.90.10.10.41.5
Megan Compain503.8.286,250N/A1.00.40.80.21.0


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

Awards and honors

[2]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "1997 Utah Starzz Transactions". Basketball-Reference.com. Retrieved May 28, 2024.
  2. 1 2 "1997 WNBA Season Summary".
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