In 1997, the Women's National Basketball Association was created. In order to give new teams reasonable talent, the league decided to have two drafts. There was the normal collegiate draft that most professional sports leagues hold. There was also the WNBA elite draft. The elite draft allowed teams to pick players that have already graduated from college and have gone on to play professionally on other American teams or overseas.
The following is the list of how players were picked in the 1997 WNBA elite draft. [1] After this draft, the normal collegiate draft took place. [2]
Pick | Player | Nationality | WNBA Team | School/Club Team |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Dena Head (G) | ![]() | Utah Starzz | Tennessee |
2 | Isabelle Fijalkowski (C/F) | ![]() | Cleveland Rockers | Colorado |
3 | Rhonda Mapp (C/F) | ![]() | Charlotte Sting | North Carolina State |
4 | Kym Hampton (C/F) | ![]() | New York Liberty | Arizona State |
5 | Wanda Guyton (F) | ![]() | Houston Comets | South Florida |
6 | Judy Mosley-McAfee (F) | ![]() | Sacramento Monarchs | Hawaii |
7 | Bridget Pettis (F) | ![]() | Phoenix Mercury | Florida |
8 | Daedra Charles (C) | ![]() | Los Angeles Sparks | Tennessee |
Pick | Player | Nationality | WNBA Team | School/Club Team |
---|---|---|---|---|
9 | Wendy Palmer (F) | ![]() | Utah Starzz | Virginia |
10 | Lynette Woodard (G) | ![]() | Cleveland Rockers | Kansas |
11 | Michi Atkins (F) | ![]() | Charlotte Sting | Texas Tech |
12 | Vickie Johnson (F) | ![]() | New York Liberty | Louisiana Tech |
13 | Janeth Arcain (F) | ![]() | Houston Comets | Brazil |
14 | Mikiko Hagiwara (G) | ![]() | Sacramento Monarchs | Japan |
15 | Nancy Lieberman-Cline (G) | ![]() | Phoenix Mercury | Old Dominion |
16 | Zheng Haixia (C) | ![]() | Los Angeles Sparks | China |
The Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) - colloquially known as "The W" - is the premier women's professional basketball league. It is composed of 12 teams, all based in the United States. The league was founded on April 22, 1996, as the women's counterpart to the National Basketball Association (NBA), and league play started in 1997. The regular season is played from May to September, with the All Star game being played midway through the season in July and the WNBA Finals at the end of September until the beginning of October.
Nicole Kristen Powell is an American basketball coach who was the head women's basketball coach at University of California, Riverside. As a player, she had a standout collegiate career at Stanford University, Powell had an 11-year WNBA career most notably with the Sacramento Monarchs where she was an All-Star and won a WNBA Championship. Powell also played professionally overseas for Fenerbahçe Istanbul. Powell had previously served on the coaching staffs at Gonzaga, Oregon, and Grand Canyon before being named the head coach of UC Riverside in March 2020.
Women's basketball is the team sport of basketball played by women. It was first played in 1892, one year after men's basketball, at Smith College in Massachusetts. It spread across the United States, in large parts via women's college competitions, and has since spread globally. As of 2020, basketball is one of the most popular and fastest growing sports in the world.
Chamique Shaunta Holdsclaw is an American former professional basketball player in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) most recently under a contract with the San Antonio Silver Stars. She announced her retirement from the Los Angeles Sparks on June 11, 2007, though she eventually came out of retirement to play with the Atlanta Dream for the 2009 WNBA Season. Holdsclaw was inducted into the NYC Basketball Hall of Fame in 2015, and the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in 2018.
The WNBA draft is an annual draft held by the WNBA through which WNBA teams can select new players from a talent pool of college and professional women's basketball players. The first WNBA draft was held in 1997.
Kara Elizabeth Wolters is a retired American collegiate and professional basketball player and a current sports broadcaster. Standing at six feet seven inches (2.01 m) and nicknamed "Big Girl," she is the tallest player in University of Connecticut women's basketball history and one of the tallest women to ever play in the WNBA. During her playing career, she was an NCAA national champion (1995), FIBA world champion (1998), WNBA champion (1999), and Olympic champion (2000) becoming one of 11 women with those accolades. She also won AP College Player of the Year in 1997
Tamika Williams-Jeter is the head women's basketball coach at the University of Dayton. She was a professional basketball player for the Minnesota Lynx and the Connecticut Sun in the WNBA.
Vickie Johnson is an American former basketball player and assistant coach of the Atlanta Dream. She was previously the head coach of the Dallas Wings in the WNBA. Johnson is the former head coach of the San Antonio Stars. Upon the sale and relocation of the Stars, Johnson was hired by head coach Bill Laimbeer as an assistant coach of the Las Vegas Aces, the Stars' decedent team.
The 1997 WNBA draft was the 1st draft held by the WNBA through which teams could select new players from a talent pool of college and professional women's basketball players. Unlike later drafts, this draft was unique because there were three different stages in which teams built their rosters.
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.
Maya April Moore is an American social justice advocate and former professional basketball player. Naming her their inaugural Performer of the Year in 2017, Sports Illustrated called Moore the "greatest winner in the history of women's basketball". Moore was selected for the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in 2024.
Tammy Eloise Jackson is an American former college and professional basketball player who was a center in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) for six seasons in the 1990s and early 2000s. Jackson played college basketball for the University of Florida, and played professionally for the Houston Comets and Washington Mystics of the WNBA. She is an Olympic bronze medalist.
Sancho Lyttle is a Vincentian-Spanish former professional basketball player for the WNBA. Combining the WNBA and the European season, she has won six domestic leagues and four Euroleague titles with four teams in three countries. She was born in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and was granted Spanish nationality in June 2010. With the Spanish basketball team she has won four medals between 2010 and 2017.
The Florida Gators women's basketball team represents the University of Florida in the sport of basketball. The Gators compete in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the Southeastern Conference (SEC). The Gators play their home games at the O'Connell Center located on the university's Gainesville, Florida campus, and are currently led by head coach Kelly Rae Finley, following the resignation of Cameron Newbauer. The Gators have appeared in 15 NCAA tournaments, with a record of 12–15.
Korie Hlede is a Croatian sports administrator. She is a co-founder and leader of basketball development at Flow Basketball Academy (FBA) in Chicago, Illinois. She played and coached professionally before starting her own training program KH Flow. In 2012, she teamed up with Margaret Stender to create Flow Basketball Academy.
Jennifer Hamson is an American professional volleyball player and former basketball player. She was also an All-American player for the Brigham Young University Cougars volleyball team.
Alyssa Thomas is an American professional basketball forward for the Connecticut Sun of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). She played college basketball for the Maryland Terrapins. The New York Liberty drafted Thomas 4th overall in the 2014 WNBA draft, and immediately traded her to the Sun along with Kelsey Bone and a 2015 first-round draft pick in exchange for Tina Charles. Thomas is the University of Maryland's all-time leader in scoring, rebounding and double-doubles for both the women's and men's programs, and one of only three athletes in NCAAW history with six career triple-doubles. In the WNBA, Thomas recorded eleven career triple-doubles. She is one of four players to record 15+, 15+, 10+ with 0 turnovers, the only WNBA player to do so ever.
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.
Natisha Hiedeman is an American professional basketball player for the Minnesota Lynx of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) and an assistant coach for Penn State. She was drafted with the eighteenth overall pick in the 2019 WNBA draft, which is the highest of any Marquette basketball player in school history and the highest draft pick for the Big East Conference since conference re-alignment.