1997 WNBA Season
The 1997 WNBA Season was the Women's National Basketball Association's first in existence. It started off with 8 franchises: Charlotte Sting, Cleveland Rockers, Houston Comets, Los Angeles Sparks, New York Liberty, Phoenix Mercury, Sacramento Monarchs, and the Utah Starzz. It featured an inaugural game between the New York Liberty and the Los Angeles Sparks. The Sparks lost to the New York Liberty, 67–57. The attendance at the Forum was 14,284. The season ended with the Comets defeating the Liberty in a one-game series 65–51. Cynthia Cooper was named MVP of the game. Regular season standings Eastern Conference Western Conference Season award winners League leaders *Chantel Tremitiere: Sacramento Monarchs, Minutes Played 1051 *Cynthia Cooper: Houston Comets, Field Goals 191 *Wendy Palmer: Utah Starzz, Field Goal Attempts, 420 *Haixia Zheng: Los Angeles Sparks, Field Goal Percentage, .618 *Cynthia Cooper: Houston Comets, 3-Pt Field Goals, 67 *Ruthie Bolton: Sacramen ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Women's National Basketball Association
The Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) is an American professional basketball league. It is composed of twelve 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 (except in Olympic years) and the WNBA Finals at the end of September until the beginning of October. Five WNBA teams have direct NBA counterparts and normally play in the same arena. They play in the same arena as funding is sparse due to lack of spectators. Indiana Fever, Los Angeles Sparks, Minnesota Lynx, New York Liberty, and Phoenix Mercury. The Atlanta Dream, Chicago Sky, Connecticut Sun, Dallas Wings, Las Vegas Aces, Seattle Storm, and Washington Mystics do not share an arena with a direct NBA counterpart, although four of the seven (t ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
WNBA Defensive Player Of The Year Award
The Women's National Basketball Association's Defensive Player of the Year Award is an annual Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) award given since the league's inaugural season -- 1997, to the top defensive player of the regular season. The winner is selected by a panel of sportswriters and broadcasters throughout the United States, each of whom casts a vote for first, second and third place selections. Each first-place vote is worth five points; each second-place vote is worth three points; and each third-place vote is worth one point. The player with the highest point total, regardless of the number of first-place votes, wins the award. Tamika Catchings has won the defensive player of the year award more times than any other player with the record of 5. Winners Multi-time winners See also * List of sports awards honoring women References * {{WNBA Awards established in 1997 Defensive Defense or defence may refer to: Tactical, martial, and political a ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Mary Murphy (basketball)
Mary Ellen Murphy (born December 12, 1957) is a basketball analyst who calls college and WNBA games for ESPN, BTN, and Pac-12 Network and select high school games for Comcast SportsNet California and Comcast SportsNet Bay Area. She has also worked with FSN. Early life Murphy was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois. She kept to her Chicago roots and attended Northwestern University from 1977 to 1980, acting as a two-year captain for the women's basketball team. During her senior season, Murphy was a finalist for the Wade Trophy as one of the top players in the nation. Coaching career After graduating from college, Murphy served as a student graduate assistant at the University of Notre Dame for three seasons while earning a master's degree in business administration. She then moved to Notre Dame as an assistant coach for two year. Murphy was hired as head coach at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1986. In 1992 she led the Badgers to their first NCAA Tournament appeara ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Cheryl Miller
Cheryl D. Miller (born January 3, 1964) is an American former basketball player. She was formerly a sideline reporter for NBA games on TNT Sports and also works for NBA TV as a reporter and analyst, having worked previously as a sportscaster for ABC Sports, TBS Sports, and ESPN. She was also head coach and general manager of the WNBA's Phoenix Mercury. In 1995, Miller was enshrined in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts. In 1999, she was inducted into the inaugural class of the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame, located in Knoxville, Tennessee. On August 20, 2010, Miller was also inducted into the FIBA Hall of Fame for her success in international play. She is the sister of retired NBA star and fellow Hall of Famer Reggie Miller and former Major League Baseball catcher Darrell Miller. High school career Miller played at Riverside Polytechnic High School (1978–1982) where she was a four-year letter winner and led her team to a 13 ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Linda Sharp
Linda Kay Sharp (born March 14, 1950) is an American former collegiate women's basketball coach. Her coaching career spans 31 seasons with stints on all levels from elementary, junior high and high school to the collegiate and professional ranks, and she was inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in 2001. Early life and education Born in Okmulgee, Oklahoma and raised in Cypress, California, Sharp attended John F. Kennedy High School in Los Angeles and played at point guard on the basketball team. She enrolled at Fullerton Junior College in 1968 to begin her college basketball career and transferred to Cal State Fullerton in 1970. In her senior season, Cal State Fullerton finished third in the 1972 AIAW national championship. Coaching career College After graduating from Cal State Fullerton in 1973 with a physical education degree, Sharp taught part-time at a local Catholic school and also did substitute teaching before landing a full-time teaching and coaching posi ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Nancy Darsch
Nancy Darsch (December 29, 1951 – November 2, 2020) was an American women's basketball coach who worked at both the professional and NCAA Division I college levels. A native of Plymouth, Massachusetts, Darsch was a 1973 graduate of Springfield College. She also earned a master's degree in physical education from the University of Tennessee. Darsch was inducted into the Ohio State Athletics Hall of Fame on September 25, 2014. Early career and college basketball Darsch began her coaching career at Longmeadow High School Longmeadow High School (LHS) is an American public high school located in Longmeadow, Massachusetts. Founded in 1956, it enrolls approximately 1,000 students.Get The Feeling: Masacksic 1988, Vol. 32. The school's mascot is a Lancer. It was ... in Massachusetts, where she coached basketball, softball, and field hockey from 1973 to 1978. As an assistant under University of Tennessee head coach Pat Summitt from 1978 to 1985, Darsch helped lead the Tennessee ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Linda Hill-MacDonald
Linda Hill-MacDonald (born August 21, 1948) is an American former women's basketball coach. Career She was head coach at Fredonia from 2013 to 2018 and at the University at Buffalo from 2005 to 2012. She was also head coach at Temple University, (1980–90), The University of Minnesota (1990–97), and the WNBA's Cleveland Rockers from 1997 to 1999. She later served as an assistant coach with the Washington Mystics, the University of South Carolina, and retired from coaching in May 2020 while assisting at Canisius. Originally from Morton, Pennsylvania, Hill-MacDonald has a daughter, Kelli, and a son, Scott, who both reside in the Philadelphia area. Head coaching record , - , align="left" , CLE , align="left" , 1997 , 28, , 15, , 13, , .536, , align="center" , 4th in Eastern, , -, , -, , -, , - , align="center" , N/A , - , align="left" , CLE , align="left" , 1998 , 30, , 20, , 10, , .667, , align="center" , 1st in Eastern, , 3, , 1, , 2, , .333 , align="center" , Los ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Marynell Meadors
Marynell Meadors (born August 27, 1943) is an American women's basketball coach at the college and professional level. She most recently served as head coach and general manager of the Atlanta Dream of the Women's National Basketball Association and was one of the original eight head coaches when the WNBA started in 1997. Biography Meadors grew up in Nashville, Tennessee, and began playing basketball at a young age, shooting at a backboard mounted against a willow tree. According to Meadors, she decided in seventh grade to become a basketball coach. After graduating from Hillsboro High School, she attended Middle Tennessee State University not far from Nashville. She graduated with a B. S. in Physical Education in 1965 and with an M. S. in Physiology of Exercise in 1966. College coaching Meadors was allowed by MTSU to begin coaching women's sports, and coached basketball at MTSU before it was a varsity sport and before Title IX was passed. In 1970, women's basketball became a ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Van Chancellor
Van Winston Chancellor (born September 27, 1943) is a former college and professional basketball coach. He coached University of Mississippi women's basketball, Louisiana State University women's basketball, and the professional Houston Comets. He was named head coach of the Lady Tigers on April 11, 2007, replacing Pokey Chatman. In 2001, Chancellor was elected to the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame, located in Knoxville, Tennessee. He was enshrined as a member of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in September 2007. Chancellor currently serves as an analyst for Southland Conference games on ESPN3. Early years Chancellor played two years of basketball at East Central Junior College in Decatur, Mississippi, before transferring to Mississippi State University, where he earned a bachelor's degree in mathematics & physical education in 1965. During his senior year at Mississippi State, he served as head coach of the boys' basketball team at Noxapater High School. Chanc ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
WNBA Coach Of The Year Award
The Women's National Basketball Association's Coach of the Year is an annual Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) award given since the league's inaugural season. The winner is selected at the end of regular season by a panel of sportswriters from the United States, each of whom casts a vote for first, second and third place selections. Each first-place vote is worth five points; each second-place vote is worth three points; and each third-place vote is worth one point. The person with the highest point total, regardless of the number of first-place votes, wins the award. Seven coaches have won both this award and the WNBA Finals in the same season: Van Chancellor (1997–1999), Bill Laimbeer (2003), John Whisenant (2005), Brian Agler (2010), Cheryl Reeve (2011), Sandy Brondello (2014), and Becky Hammon (2022). Winners See also * List of sports awards honoring women References * * Notes {{WNBA Coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (spor ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Kim Perrot Sportsmanship Award
The Kim Perrot Sportsmanship Award is an annual Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) award given since the league's inaugural season, to the player who most "exemplifies the ideals of sportsmanship on the court—ethical behavior, fair play and integrity." This is the same criterion used by the analogous NBA Sportsmanship Award, given by the NBA since its 1995–96 season. Every year, each of the WNBA teams nominates one of its players to compete for this award. From these nominees, a panel of sportswriters and broadcasters vote for first and second place winners of this award. First place selections receive two votes, while second place selections receive one. The player with the highest point total, regardless of the number of first-place votes, wins the award. Since the 2000 WNBA season, the award is named for the late Kim Perrot, who helped guide the Houston Comets to their first two WNBA championships before she died in August, 1999, after suffering from cancer ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Haixia Zheng
Zheng Haixia (; born March 7, 1967) is a Chinese retired professional women's basketball player for the China women's national basketball team and the Women's National Basketball Association. International career In 1983, Haixia made her debut at the Basketball World Championship and finished 3rd. The following year, she and her teammates finished 1st in the Asian Junior Basketball Championship and 3rd in the 23rd Olympic Games. In 1986, she led the Chinese team to fifth in the 10th World Championship, 1st in the Asian Games, and 2nd in the World Championship. In 1992, she inspired her teammates to win the silver in the Barcelona Olympics. The following year, she won the East Asian Games, the World University Games and National Games. In 1994, she claimed the titles in the Asian Championship and ranked 2nd in the World Championship, being named MVP of the event by averaging 26.4 points, 13.1 rebounds and shooting 83.5% from the field. One year later, she and her teammates ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |