2002 Cleveland Rockers season

2002 Cleveland Rockers season
Coach	Dan Hughes
Arena	Gund Arena
Attendance	9,318 per game
Results
Record	10–22 (.313)
Place	7th (Eastern)
Playoff finish	Did not qualify
Team Leaders
Points	Penny Taylor (13.0)
Rebounds	Chasity Melvin (6.1)
Assists	Jennifer Rizzotti (3.3)
← 2001 season 2003 season →

The 2002 WNBA season was the 6th season for the Cleveland Rockers.

Transactions

WNBA draft

See also: 2002 WNBA draft

Round	Pick	Player	Nationality	School/Team/Country
1	7	Deanna Jackson	United States	UAB
1	9	Brandi McCain	United States	Florida
3	41	Angie Welle	United States	Iowa State
4	57	Marche Strickland	United States	Maryland

Transactions

Date	Transaction
March 4, 2002	Traded Pollyanna Johns Kimbrough and a 2002 1st Round Pick to the Phoenix Mercury in exchange for a 2002 1st Round Pick [1]
April 19, 2002	Drafted Deanna Jackson, Brandi McCain, Angie Welle and Marche Strickland in the 2002 WNBA Draft [1]
May 8, 2002	Waived Jameka Jones, Jannon Roland and Tere Williams [1]
May 19, 2002	Waived Angie Welle and Marche Strickland [1]
May 21, 2002	Waived Katryna Gaither [1]
May 23, 2002	Waived Anastasia Kostaki [1]
May 30, 2002	Waived Nyree Roberts [1]
	Signed Lucienne Berthieu [1]
June 14, 2002	Waived Paige Sauer [1]

Roster

2002 Cleveland Rockers roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. No. Nat. Name Height Weight DOB From Yrs F 23 Andrade, Mery 6' 0" (1.83m) 169 lb (77kg) 1975-12-31 Old Dominion 3 G 11 Bader Binford, Tricia 5' 4" (1.63m) 125 lb (57kg) 1973-02-26 Boise State 4 F/C 9 Berthieu, Lucienne 6' 2" (1.88m) 188 lb (85kg) 1978-03-31 Old Dominion R F 34 Brown, Rushia 6' 2" (1.88m) 175 lb (79kg) 1972-05-05 Furman 5 C 47 Henderson, Tracy 6' 3" (1.91m) 200 lb (91kg) 1974-12-31 Georgia 1 F 5 Jackson, Deanna 6' 2" (1.88m) 155 lb (70kg) 1979-12-15 UAB R G 25 Jones, Merlakia 5' 10" (1.78m) 147 lb (67kg) 1973-06-21 Florida 5 G 7 McCain, Brandi 5' 3" (1.6m) 135 lb (61kg) 1979-09-21 Florida R F/C 44 Melvin, Chasity 6' 3" (1.91m) 185 lb (84kg) 1976-05-03 NC State 3 G 21 Rizzotti, Jennifer 5' 6" (1.68m) 146 lb (66kg) 1974-05-15 Connecticut 3 C 31 Sauer, Paige 6' 5" (1.96m) 200 lb (91kg) 1977-12-08 Connecticut 2 F 14 Taylor, Penny 6' 1" (1.85m) 165 lb (75kg) 1981-05-24 1 C 12 Wauters, Ann 6' 4" (1.93m) 193 lb (88kg) 1980-10-12 2	Head coach Dan Hughes (Muskingum) Assistant coaches Lisa Boyer Janice Braxton Legend (C) Team captain (DP) Unsigned draft pick (FA) Free agent (S) Suspended Injured

Schedule

Regular season

2002 game log Total: 10–22 (Home: 4–12; Road: 6–10)
June: 6–7 (Home: 4–4; Road: 2–3) Game Date Team Score High points High rebounds High assists Location Attendance Record 1 June 1 Houston L 65–69 (OT) Penny Taylor (24) Penny Taylor (9) Jennifer Rizzotti (5) Gund Arena 0–1 2 June 6 Detroit W 72–55 Chasity Melvin (19) Penny Taylor (9) Andrade Jones (4) Gund Arena 1–1 3 June 6 @ Orlando L 99–103 (3OT) Penny Taylor (27) Merlakia Jones (8) Jennifer Rizzotti (5) TD Waterhouse Centre 1–2 4 June 11 @ Miami L 65–74 Merlakia Jones (20) Melvin Taylor (6) Jones McCain Taylor (3) American Airlines Arena 1–3 5 June 14 Washington L 63–69 Merlakia Jones (18) Chasity Melvin (8) Merlakia Jones (3) Gund Arena 1–4 6 June 15 @ Indiana W 79–68 Merlakia Jones (27) Ann Wauters (6) Brandi McCain (5) Conseco Fieldhouse 2–4 7 June 19 Orlando L 62–66 Merlakia Jones (14) Merlakia Jones (7) Jennifer Rizzotti (4) Gund Arena 2–5 8 June 21 New York W 80–69 Chasity Melvin (30) Jones Wauters (7) Jennifer Rizzotti (14) Gund Arena 3–5 9 June 23 @ Washington L 45–63 Chasity Melvin (10) Jones Melvin Rizzotti Taylor (4) Jones Rizzotti Taylor (2) MCI Center 3–6 10 June 25 Miami W 71–50 Ann Wauters (18) Merlakia Jones (9) Mery Andrade (4) Gund Arena 4–6 11 June 27 Sacramento W 73–50 Penny Taylor (24) Chasity Melvin (12) McCain Taylor Wauters (5) Gund Arena 5–6 12 June 28 @ New York W 67–58 Penny Taylor (20) Merlakia Jones (7) Andrade Jones McCain Rizzotti Taylor (2) Madison Square Garden 6–6 13 June 30 Utah L 62–79 Ann Wauters (20) Ann Wauters (6) Brown McCain Taylor (5) Gund Arena 6–7
July : 3–9 (Home: 0–5; Road: 3–4) Game Date Team Score High points High rebounds High assists Location Attendance Record 14 July 2 Portland L 64–68 Merlakia Jones (18) Ann Wauters (7) Merlakia Jones (5) Gund Arena 6–8 15 July 5 Seattle L 65–73 Penny Taylor (16) Brown Jones Melvin Wauters (4) Jones Taylor (4) Gund Arena 6–9 16 July 6 @ Charlotte L 67–78 Merlakia Jones (17) Jones Wauters (6) Penny Taylor (4) Charlotte Coliseum 6–10 17 July 8 @ Indiana L 57–68 Jones Taylor (12) Ann Wauters (6) Merlakia Jones (3) Conseco Fieldhouse 6–11 18 July 11 @ Sacramento L 69–71 Ann Wauters (18) Penny Taylor (10) Jones Taylor (5) ARCO Arena 6–12 19 July 12 @ Seattle W 62–58 Ann Wauters (16) Chasity Melvin (12) Mery Andrade (4) KeyArena 7–12 20 July 17 @ Minnesota W 58–48 Ann Wauters (14) Chasity Melvin (12) Jones Rizzotti Taylor Wauters (2) Target Center 8–12 21 July 20 Los Angeles L 50–63 Penny Taylor (11) Merlakia Jones (9) Bader Binford Taylor (3) Gund Arena 8–13 22 July 22 @ New York L 52–73 Merlakia Jones (11) Penny Taylor (6) Chasity Melvin (3) Madison Square Garden 8–14 23 July 24 Charlotte L 66–73 (OT) Merlakia Jones (20) Brown Jones (8) Jennifer Rizzotti (4) Gund Arena 8–15 24 July 25 @ Charlotte W 83–73 Merlakia Jones (23) Chasity Melvin (10) Jennifer Rizzotti (7) Charlotte Coliseum 9–15 25 July 28 Orlando L 70–76 (OT) Andrea Stinson (17) Andrea Stinson (5) Staley Stinson (4) Gund Arena 9–16
August : 1–6 (Home: 0–3; Road: 1–3) Game Date Team Score High points High rebounds High assists Location Attendance Record 26 August 1 @ Detroit W 68–66 Chasity Melvin (20) Merlakia Jones (8) Merlakia Jones (5) The Palace of Auburn Hills 10–16 27 August 3 Detroit L 57–68 Chasity Melvin (15) Ann Wauters (8) Jennifer Rizzotti (4) Gund Arena 10–17 28 August 6 @ Houston L 54–67 Melvin Taylor (13) Merlakia Jones (5) Jennifer Rizzotti (4) Compaq Center 10–18 29 August 7 @ Phoenix L 57–59 Ann Wauters (16) Chasity Melvin (9) Melvin Rizzotti (5) America West Arena 10–19 30 August 9 @ Miami L 59–65 Penny Taylor (11) Jones Melvin (6) Mery Andrade (4) American Airlines Arena 10–20 31 August 11 Washington L 54–60 Ann Wauters (12) Melvin Taylor (7) Brown Jones Rizzotti Taylor (2) Gund Arena 10–21 32 August 13 Indiana L 56–60 Penny Taylor (22) Penny Taylor (10) Chasity Melvin (5) Gund Arena 10–22
2002 season schedule

Season standings

Eastern Conference	W	L	PCT	Conf.	GB
New York Liberty x	18	14	.563	11–10	–
Charlotte Sting x	18	14	.563	12–9	–
Washington Mystics x	17	15	.531	12–9	1.0
Indiana Fever x	16	16	.500	12–9	2.0
Orlando Miracle o	16	16	.500	13–8	2.0
Miami Sol o	15	17	.469	11–10	3.0
Cleveland Rockers o	10	22	.312	7–14	8.0
Detroit Shock o	9	23	.281	6–15	9.0

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
Merlakia Jones	32	32	34.2	.399	.278	.785	5.5	2.3	1.4	0.1	12.2
Chasity Melvin	32	32	33.0	.464	.500	.687	6.0	1.8	0.9	0.6	12.5
Penny Taylor	30	26	30.3	.416	.342	.853	5.3	2.3	1.2	0.4	13.0
Ann Wauters	28	25	28.6	.553	.000	.851	5.0	1.4	0.6	0.8	11.2
Jennifer Rizzotti	26	25	26.7	.400	.384	.800	2.7	3.3	0.9	0.1	6.8
Mery Andrade	32	16	20.8	.306	.192	.783	1.8	2.1	0.9	0.2	2.8
Rushia Brown	28	2	16.7	.400	.000	.737	2.7	1.0	0.8	0.3	4.0
Brandi McCain	31	2	12.6	.291	.362	.750	0.8	1.3	0.4	0.1	2.7
Deanna Jackson	18	0	7.9	.413	.000	.708	1.5	0.3	0.1	0.1	3.1
Tracy Henderson	23	0	7.5	.390	N/A	1.000	1.5	0.1	0.1	0.3	1.5
Tricia Bader Binford	18	0	7.3	.154	.071	.833	0.4	0.8	0.3	0.1	0.8
Paige Sauer	1	0	7.0	.000	N/A	N/A	2.0	0.0	1.0	0.0	0.0
Lucienne Berthieu	5	0	3.2	.429	.000	.500	0.8	0.0	0.0	0.0	1.6

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

References

1. "2002 Cleveland Rockers Transactions". Basketball-Reference.com. Retrieved August 27, 2024.