1997 Phoenix Mercury season

WNBA team season August 2023 March 2026 Phoenix Mercury 1997 16 12 Western 1st Cheryl Miller America West Arena Lost WNBA Semifinals True The 1997 WNBA season was the first for the Phoenix Mercury. Transactions WNBA allocation draft Player Nationality School/Team/Country Jennifer Gillom Ole Miss Michele Timms WTV Wuppertal (Germany) WNBA elite draft WNBA elite draft Round Pick Player Nationality School/Team/Country 1 7 Bridget Pettis Florida 2 15 Nancy Lieberman-Cline Old Dominion WNBA draft 1997 WNBA draft Round Pick Player Nationality School/Team/Country 1 8 Toni Foster Iowa 2 9 Tia Jackson Iowa324Umeki WebbNC State425Monique AmbersArizona State Transactions DateTransaction January 22, 1997 Drafted Jennifer Gillom and Michele Timms in the 1997 WNBA Allocation Draft January 27, 1997 Hired Cheryl Miller as Head Coach1997 Phoenix Mercury Transactions https://www.basketball-reference.com/wnba/teams/PHO/1997_transactions.html 2024-05-22 Basketball-Reference.com en February 27, 1997 Drafted Bridget Pettis and Nancy Lieberman-Cline in the 1997 WNBA Elite Draft April 28, 1997 Drafted Toni Foster, Tia Jackson, Umeki Webb and Monique Ambers in the 1997 WNBA draftMay 22, 1997Signed Marlies Askamp and Tara WilliamsJune 20, 1997Waived Ryneldi BecentiJuly 22, 1997Waived Molly TuterSigned Ryneldi BecentiJuly 31, 1997Traded future considerations to the Sacramento Monarchs in exchange for Mikiko Hagiwara Roster Phoenix Mercury 1997 WNBA white #EF3340 #EEDC00 #5F249F 42 Monique Ambers F 6 4 1970-12-21 R Arizona State USA 14 Marlies Askamp C 6 5 198 1970-07-08 R West Germany 4 Ryneldi Becenti G 5 6 1971-08-11 R Arizona State USA 0 Toni Foster F/C 6 1 175 1971-11-16 R Iowa USA 22 Jennifer Gillom F/C 6 3 180 1964-06-13 R Mississippi USA 24 Mikiko Hagiwara G 5 9 160 1970-04-27 R JAP 3 Tia Jackson F 6 0 148 1972-04-21 R Iowa USA 10 Nancy Lieberman-Cline Nancy Lieberman G 5 10 150 1958-07-01 R Old Dominion USA 32 Bridget Pettis G 5 9 150 1971-01-01 R Florida USA 7 Michele Timms G 5 7 132 1965-06-28 R AUS 24 Molly Tuter 1 G 1975-08-25 R Arizona State USA 21 Umeki Webb G/F 5 10 162 1975-06-26 R NC State USA 31 Tara Williams basketball G 5 11 170 1974-07-23 R Auburn USA USA Cheryl Miller USC Schedule Regular season Phoenix Mercury #EF3340; color:white 1997 Total: 16–12 (Home: 11–3; Road: 5–9) Phoenix Mercury #5F249F; color:#EEDC00 June yes 1 0 1 2 |- | 1 | June 22 | Charlotte | W 76–59 | Bridget Pettis (17) | Toni Foster (8) | Michele Timms (6) | America West Arena | 1–0 |- | 2 | June 24 | @ Houston | L 55–72 | Toni Foster (13) | Askamp Foster Webb (5) | Umeki Webb (4) | The Summit | 1–1 |- | 3 | June 26 | @ Cleveland | W 68–63 | Gillom Pettis (14) | Foster Webb (7) | Michele Timms (4) | Gund Arena | 2–1 |- | 4 | June 29 | @ New York | L 57–65 | Jennifer Gillom (23) | Gillom Webb (10) | Michele Timms (5) | Madison Square Garden | 2–2 Phoenix Mercury #5F249F; color:#EEDC00 July 3 3 3 3 |- | 5 | July 3 | @ Utah | W 77–55 | Jennifer Gillom (21) | Toni Foster (9) | Michele Timms (9) | Delta Center | 3–2 |- | 6 | July 7 | New York | W 69–50 | Bridget Pettis (25) | Jennifer Gillom (13) | Michele Timms (9) | America West Arena | 4–2 |- | 7 | July 9 | Houston | W 66–53 | Jennifer Gillom (20) | Marlies Askamp (10) | Umeki Webb (7) | America West Arena | 5–2 |- | 8 | July 12 | @ Utah | L 51–52 | Toni Foster (14) | Toni Foster (7) | Umeki Webb (3) | Delta Center | 5–3 |- | 9 | July 13 | @ Los Angeles | W 57–56 | Michele Timms (17) | Umeki Webb (6) | Michele Timms (3) | Great Western Forum | 6–3 |- | 10 | July 16 | Sacramento | W 84–67 | Jennifer Gillom (19) | Bridget Pettis (7) | Michele Timms (5) | America West Arena | 7–3 |- | 11 | July 21 | @ Sacramento | W 70–57 | Jennifer Gillom (19) | Toni Foster (11) | Michele Timms (7) | ARCO Arena | 8–3 |- | 12 | July 22 | Houston | L 69–77 | Michele Timms (24) | Bridget Pettis (7) | Bridget Pettis (4) | America West Arena | 8–4 |- | 13 | July 17 | Los Angeles | L 83–86 (OT) | Gillom Pettis (17) | Jennifer Gillom (9) | Michele Timms (9) | America West Arena | 8–5 |- | 14 | July 28 | Cleveland | L 64–76 | Jennifer Gillom (19) | Marlies Askamp (8) | Tia Jackson (4) | America West Arena | 8–6 |- | 15 | July 30 | @ Charlotte | L 67–68 | Jennifer Gillom (16) | Marlies Askamp (6) | Michele Timms (4) | Charlotte Coliseum | 8–7 |- | 16 | July 31 | @ Cleveland | L 67–79 | Askamp Gillom (12) | Tia Jackson (8) | Nancy Lieberman-Cline (4) | Gund Arena | 8–8 | Phoenix Mercury #5F249F; color:#EEDC00 August 7 0 1 4 |- | 17 | August 2 | @ New York | L 70–80 | Michele Timms (20) | Jennifer Gillom (9) | Michele Timms (6) | Madison Square Garden | 8–9 |- | 18 | August 4 | Sacramento | W 83–60 | Bridget Pettis (23) | Toni Foster (8) | Askamp Foster Pettis Timms (3) | America West Arena | 9–9 |- | 19 | August 6 | Utah | W 78–46 | Michele Timms (18) | Askamp Webb (9) | Michele Timms (7) | America West Arena | 10–9 |- | 20 | August 7 | @ Houston | L 70–74 | Michele Timms (24) | Foster Timms (6) | Michele Timms (4) | The Summit | 10–10 |- | 21 | August 9 | @ Charlotte | L 59–79 | Bridget Pettis (14) | Toni Foster (7) | Bridget Pettis (3) | Charlotte Coliseum | 10–11 |- | 22 | August 12 | New York | W 77–67 | Jennifer Gillom (23) | Jennifer Gillom (8) | Michele Timms (7) | America West Arena | 11–11 |- | 23 | August 14 | Cleveland | W 61–55 | Jennifer Gillom (19) | Foster Timms (7) | Michele Timms (6) | America West Arena | 12–11 |- style="background:#bbffbb" | 24 | August 17 | Utah | W 71–63 | Jennifer Gillom (15) | Gillom Timms (7) | Michele Timms (5) | America West Arena | 13–11 |- | 25 | August 18 | @ Los Angeles | L 66–75 | Jennifer Gillom (18) | Marlies Askamp (9) | Michele Timms (4) | Great Western Forum | 13–12 |- | 26 | August 20 | @ Sacramento | W 69–54 | Bridget Pettis (18) | Toni Foster (11) | Umeki Webb (4) | ARCO Arena | 14–12 |- | 27 | August 22 | Charlotte | W 78–63 | Bridget Pettis (27) | Jennifer Gillom (5) | Michele Timms (8) | America West Arena | 15–12 |- | 28 | August 24 | Los Angeles | W 73–68 (OT) | Jennifer Gillom (29) | Askamp Pettis (9) | Michele Timms (7) | America West Arena | 16–12 phx 1997 Playoffs Phoenix Mercury #EF3340; color:white 1997 yes Phoenix Mercury #5F249F; color:#EEDC00 Semifinal vs. New York Liberty yes |- | 1 | August 28 | New York | L 41–59 | Askamp Gillom (9) | Jennifer Gillom (7) | Pettis Webb (2) | America West Arena | 0–1 phx 1997 yes Season standings PHX Statistics Regular season Player GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG Michele Timms 27 27 35.8 .336 .345 .760 3.7 5.0 2.6 0.1 12.1 Jennifer Gillom 28 28 31.2 .434 .313 .777 5.4 0.8 1.3 0.5 15.7 Bridget Pettis 28 28 30.1 .334 .306 .898 3.8 2.8 1.8 0.4 12.6 Umeki Webb 28 17 27.7 .297 0.67 .687 4.2 2.4 2.4 0.3 5.0 Toni Foster 28 28 26.3 .468 .167 .704 6.1 1.0 1.9 0.8 8.8 Marlies Askamp 28 1 18.5 .393 .000 .763 5.2 0.8 0.8 0.3 7.5 Mikiko Hagiwara 12 5 15.5 .256 .286 .500 1.2 0.8 0.2 0.0 2.8 Tia Jackson 26 6 12.3 .342 .375 .840 2.2 1.0 0.9 0.3 2.8 Nancy Lieberman-Cline 25 0 11.2 .325 .231 .800 1.3 1.6 0.6 0.1 2.6 Ryneldi Becenti 1 0 8.0 N/A N/A N/A 0.0 0.0 1.0 0.0 0.0 Tara Williams 12 0 7.0 .410 .455 N/A 0.7 0.3 0.3 0.0 3.1Monique Ambers1904.5.444N/A.4001.10.20.00.10.7Molly Tuter301.0.000N/AN/A0.00.00.00.00.0 ‡Waived/Released during the season †Traded during the season ≠Acquired during the season Toni Foster ranked ninth in the WNBA in total rebounds with 172 Toni Foster was ranked ninth in the WNBA in steals with 53. Toni Foster tied for seventh in the WNBA in blocks with 21. Toni Foster ranked seventh in the WNBA in Field Goal Percentage (.468) Jennifer Gillom ranked tenth in the WNBA in Free Throw Pct with .777 Jennifer Gillom ranked fourth in the WNBA in field goals with 163 Jennifer Gillom ranked fifth in the WNBA in points with 440 points. Jennifer Gillom ranked fifth in the WNBA in points per game with 15.7 Bridget Pettis was tied for tenth in the WNBA in steals with 49. Michele Timms ranked third in the WNBA in minutes per game with 35.8 Michele Timms ranked second in the WNBA in steals with 71. Michele Timms ranked third in the WNBA in assists with 137. Chantel Tremitiere ranked fourth in the WNBA in assists with 135. Umeki Webb ranked fourth in the WNBA in steals with 68. Awards and honors Jennifer Gillom, Center, All-WNBA Second Team http://www.wnba.com/history/awards_1997.html WNBA.com: Postseason Awards: 1997 www.wnba.com Bridget Pettis: Led WNBA, Free Throw Percentage, .898 https://www.basketball-reference.com/wnba/years/1997.html 1997 WNBA Season Summary - Basketball-Reference.com Basketball-Reference.com Michele Timms: Third in WNBA, 3-Pt Field Goals, 49 References 30em External links Mercury on Basketball Reference Category:Phoenix Mercury seasons Phoenix Phoenix Mercury Category:Western Conference (WNBA) championship seasons