The Charlotte Sting were a Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) team based in Charlotte, North Carolina, one of the league's eight original teams. The team folded on January 3, 2007.
The Portland Fire were a professional basketball team in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) based in Portland, Oregon that joined the league in 2000 as the counterpart to the NBA’s Portland Trail Blazers. They played their games at the Rose Garden. The team folded after the 2002 season, its third in the league. They were the only WNBA team that ceased operations without having made the playoffs.
The WNBA Finals are the championship series of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) and the conclusion of the league's postseason each fall. The series was named the WNBA Championship until 2002. Since 2016, Verizon is the official sponsor.
Janel McCarville is a retired American professional basketball player from Custer, Wisconsin who is currently a high school basketball coach.
Helen Marie Darling is an American former professional basketball player, who played most recently for the San Antonio Silver Stars of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA).
Tamara Kim "Tammy" Sutton-Brown is a Canadian retired professional basketball player. Her primary position was center. Throughout her playing career, Sutton-Brown played for the Charlotte Sting and Indiana Fever of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). She had also played in Asia and Europe. Sutton-Brown has won a WNBA championship (2012) and is a two-time WNBA All-Star.
Kelly Anne Mazzante is an American retired professional women's basketball player who last played for the Atlanta Dream of the WNBA. After her collegiate career, she was the all-time leading scorer in Big Ten basketball history. The record stood until she was surpassed on the scoring list by Rachel Banham in 2016. The record was subsequently surpassed by Kelsey Mitchell in 2018 and Caitlin Clark in 2024.
Andrea Stinson is a retired professional basketball player from the United States, playing for the WNBA from 1997 to 2004 for the Charlotte Sting and one final season in 2005 with the Detroit Shock.
The 1998 WNBA season was the Women's National Basketball Association's second season. The 1998 season saw two expansion teams join the league, the Detroit Shock and Washington Mystics. The expansion teams allowed the defending champions Houston Comets to move to the Western Conference. The regular season was extended from 28 games to 30 games. The season ended with the Comets winning their second WNBA championship. During the season, Kelly Boucher became the first Canadian to play in the league, suiting up for the Charlotte Sting.
Sophia L. Witherspoon is a former American college and professional basketball player who was a guard for seven seasons in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). Witherspoon played college basketball for the University of Florida, and was selected in the second round of the 1997 WNBA draft. She played professionally for the New York Liberty, Portland Fire and Los Angeles Sparks of the WNBA.
The Eastern Conference is one of two conferences that make up the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA), the other being the Western Conference. Both conferences consist of 6 teams.
The 2003 WNBA season was their fifth season and their first in Connecticut. The Sun made the playoffs for the first time since 2000. They would sweep the Charlotte Sting in the first round, only to get swept to the eventual champion Detroit Shock in the conference finals.
Erin Buescher Perperoglou is a former American professional basketball player. She played most recently as a forward for the San Antonio Silver Stars of the WNBA.
The 2001 WNBA Championship was the championship series of the 2001 WNBA season, and the conclusion of the season's playoffs. The Los Angeles Sparks, top-seeded champions of the Western Conference, defeated the Charlotte Sting, fourth-seeded champions of the Eastern Conference, two games to none in a best-of-three series. This was Los Angeles' first title.
The 2001 WNBA season was the fifth season for the New York Liberty. The team attempted to reach the WNBA Finals, but they failed in the conference finals, losing in three games to the Charlotte Sting.
The 2001 WNBA Playoffs was the postseason for the Women's National Basketball Association's 2001 season which ended with the Western Conference champion Los Angeles Sparks beating the Eastern Conference champion Charlotte Sting, 2–0. Lisa Leslie was named the MVP of the Finals.
Toni Foster is a former professional basketball player in the WNBA. She was the eighth pick in the 1997 WNBA draft, being selected by the Phoenix Mercury.
Rhonda Mapp is a former professional basketball player. She played 6 years of professional basketball overseas before joining the WNBA in 1997. After her time in the WNBA, Mapp continued to play overseas, including time in Spain, Italy, France, Turkey, Israel, and Korea.
Tora Suber is a former professional basketball player who played for the Charlotte Sting and Orlando Miracle in the WNBA. She played a total of 83 games.
Wendi Wells is a girls basketball high school head coach in Shawnee, Oklahoma since 2008. Before starting her head coaching tenure, Willits had 3,345 points while playing high school basketball in Fort Cobb, Oklahoma. With the Arkansas Razorbacks women's basketball team from 1997 to 2001, Willits had 1574 points and set an Arkansas career record with 316 three-pointers. As part of the Razorbacks, Willits and her team reached the final four during the 1998 NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament and won the 1999 Women's National Invitation Tournament. After joining the Los Angeles Sparks in 2001, Willits and the team won the 2001 WNBA Championship. As an assistant coach, Willits worked for the University of West Georgia and Shawnee High School in the early to late 2000s.
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