1997 New York Liberty season

August 2023 March 2026 New York Liberty 1997 17 11 Eastern 2nd Nancy Darsch Madison Square Garden Lost WNBA Finals True The 1997 WNBA season was the first season for the New York Liberty. WNBA allocation draft Player Nationality School/Team/Country Rebecca Lobo UConn Teresa Weatherspoon Louisiana Tech WNBA elite draft WNBA elite draft Round Pick Player Nationality School/Team/Country 1 4 Kym Hampton Arizona State 2 12 Vickie Johnson Louisiana Tech WNBA draft 1997 WNBA draft Round Pick Player Nationality School/Team/Country 1 6 Sue Wicks Rutgers 2 11 Sophia Witherspoon Florida322Trena TriceNC State427Kisha FordGeorgia Tech Transactions DateTransaction January 22, 1997 Drafted Rebecca Lobo and Teresa Weatherspoon in the 1997 WNBA Allocation Draft February 27, 1997 Drafted Kym Hampton and Vickie Johnson in the 1997 WNBA Elite Draft April 19, 1997 Hired Nancy Darsch as Head Coach1997 New York Liberty Transactions https://www.basketball-reference.com/wnba/teams/NYL/1997_transactions.html 2024-05-22 Basketball-Reference.com en April 28, 1997 Drafted Sue Wicks, Sophia Witherspoon, Trena Trice and Kisha Ford in the 1997 WNBA draftAugust 11, 1997Waived Jasmina Perazić-Gipe Roster New York Liberty 1997 WNBA white #010101 white #0057B7 10 Rhonda Blades G 5 7 138 1972-10-29 R Vanderbilt USA 22 Cassandra Crumpton-Moorer 1997 New York Liberty G 5 11 175 1962-10-29 R Alabama USA 5 Kisha Ford G/F 5 10 153 1975-04-04 R Georgia Tech USA 34 Kym Hampton C 6 2 210 1962-11-03 R Arizona State USA 55 Vickie Johnson G/F 5 9 150 1972-04-15 R Louisiana Tech USA 50 Rebecca Lobo C 6 4 185 1973-10-06 R UConn USA 13 Jasmina Perazić-Gipe G/F 6 0 1960-12-06 R Maryland SFR Yugoslavia 33 Trena Trice F/C 6 2 180 1965-08-04 R NC State USA 11 Teresa Weatherspoon G 5 8 161 1965-12-08 R Louisiana Tech USA 23 Sue Wicks F 6 3 174 1966-11-26 R Rutgers USA 13 Sophia Witherspoon G/F 5 10 145 1969-07-06 R Florida USA USA Nancy Darsch Tennessee USA Melissa McFerrin USA Lisa White 1 Schedule Regular season New York Liberty #010101; color:white 1997 Total: 17–11 (Home: 10–5; Road: 7–6) New York Liberty #0057B7; color:white June yes 1 0 3 0 |- | 1 | June 21 | @ Los Angeles | W 67–57 | Rebecca Lobo (16) | Vickie Johnson (8) | Teresa Weatherspoon (10) | Great Western Forum | 1–0 |- | 2 | June 23 | @ Sacramento | W 73–62 | Sophia Witherspoon (15) | Rebecca Lobo (9) | Vickie Johnson (3) | ARCO Arena | 2–0 |- | 3 | June 26 | @ Houston | W 62–60 (OT) | Hampton Johnson Lobo (10) | Rebecca Lobo (8) | Kisha Ford (4) | The Summit | 3–0 |- | 4 | June 29 | Phoenix | W 65–57 | Vickie Johnson (20) | Rebecca Lobo (9) | Teresa Weatherspoon (5) | Madison Square Garden | 4–0 New York Liberty #0057B7; color:white July 6 2 4 2 |- | 5 | July 2 | Houston | W 72–67 | Sophia Witherspoon (14) | Kym Hampton (9) | Teresa Weatherspoon (6) | Madison Square Garden | 5–0 |- | 6 | July 4 | @ Houston | W 65–58 | Sophia Witherspoon (21) | Rebecca Lobo (11) | Teresa Weatherspoon (6) | The Summit | 6–0 |- | 7 | July 5 | @ Utah | W 66–53 | Sophia Witherspoon (14) | Teresa Weatherspoon (11) | Teresa Weatherspoon (5) | Delta Center | 7–0 |- | 8 | July 7 | @ Phoenix | L 50–69 | Vickie Johnson (11) | Sophia Witherspoon (6) | Teresa Weatherspoon (5) | America West Arena | 7–1 |- | 9 | July 9 | @ Charlotte | L 69–87 | Vickie Johnson (14) | Rebecca Lobo (8) | Teresa Weatherspoon (7) | Charlotte Coliseum | 7–2 |- | 10 | July 10 | Charlotte | W 62–48 | Rebecca Lobo (16) | Rebecca Lobo (11) | Teresa Weatherspoon (7) | Madison Square Garden | 8–2 |- | 11 | July 14 | @ Cleveland | W 68–57 | Rebecca Lobo (18) | Rebecca Lobo (8) | Teresa Weatherspoon (5) | Gund Arena | 9–2 |- | 12 | July 15 | Cleveland | W 76–59 | Sophia Witherspoon (16) | Lobo Wicks (8) | Teresa Weatherspoon (8) | Madison Square Garden | 10–2 |- | 13 | July 17 | Utah | W 80–54 | Rebecca Lobo (17) | Kym Hampton (9) | Teresa Weatherspoon (7) | Madison Square Garden | 11–2 |- | 14 | July 19 | Los Angeles | W 69–57 | Sophia Witherspoon (24) | Kym Hampton (9) | Rebecca Lobo (5) | Madison Square Garden | 12–2 |- | 15 | July 22 | Utah | L 71–78 | Sophia Witherspoon (16) | Kym Hampton (7) | Teresa Weatherspoon (6) | Madison Square Garden | 12–3 |- | 16 | July 23 | @ Charlotte | W 65–63 | Rebecca Lobo (17) | Rebecca Lobo (4) | Vickie Johnson (6) | Charlotte Coliseum | 13–3 |- | 17 | July 26 | Charlotte | L 61–64 | Sophia Witherspoon (21) | Rebecca Lobo (11) | Teresa Weatherspoon (7) | Madison Square Garden | 13–4 |- | 18 | July 30 | Sacramento | W 73–68 | Sophia Witherspoon (26) | Rebecca Lobo (12) | Teresa Weatherspoon (10) | Madison Square Garden | 14–4 | New York Liberty #0057B7; color:white August 3 3 0 4 |- | 19 | August 2 | Phoenix | W 80–70 | Sophia Witherspoon (20) | Kym Hampton (10) | Vickie Johnson (6) | Madison Square Garden | 15–4 |- | 20 | August 5 | Los Angeles | L 50–67 | Hampton Witherspoon (12) | Rebecca Lobo (10) | Johnson Weatherspoon (3) | Madison Square Garden | 15–5 |- | 21 | August 11 | @ Sacramento | L 69–76 | Kym Hampton (17) | Kym Hampton (6) | Teresa Weatherspoon (6) | ARCO Arena | 15–6 |- | 22 | August 12 | @ Phoenix | L 67–77 | Kym Hampton (14) | Kym Hampton (11) | Teresa Weatherspoon (8) | America West Arena | 15–7 |- | 23 | August 15 | Sacramento | W 79–63 | Sophia Witherspoon (21) | Kym Hampton (8) | Teresa Weatherspoon (8) | Madison Square Garden | 16–7 |- | 24 | August 17 | Houston | L 55–70 | Rebecca Lobo (13) | Johnson Lobo (6) | Teresa Weatherspoon (5) | Madison Square Garden | 16–8 |- | 25 | August 19 | @ Utah | L 75–81 | Rebecca Lobo (27) | Rebecca Lobo (9) | Teresa Weatherspoon (5) | Delta Center | 16–9 |- | 26 | August 20 | @ Los Angeles | L 76–78 | Sophia Witherspoon (27) | Johnson Wicks (5) | Teresa Weatherspoon (12) | Great Western Forum | 16–10 |- | 27 | August 23 | @ Cleveland | L 71–72 | Trena Trice (17) | Kym Hampton (9) | Johnson Weatherspoon (5) | Gund Arena | 16–11 |- | 28 | August 24 | Cleveland | W 79–72 (OT) | Kym Hampton (21) | Rebecca Lobo (7) | Teresa Weatherspoon (8) | Madison Square Garden | 17–11 nyl 1997 Playoffs New York Liberty #010101; color:white yes 1997 New York Liberty #0057B7; color:white Semifinal vs. Phoenix Mercury yes yes no |- style="background:#bbffbb;" | 1 | August 28 | @ Phoenix | W 59–41 | Rebecca Lobo (16) | Kym Hampton (14) | Teresa Weatherspoon (5) | America West Arena | 1–0 New York Liberty #0057B7; color:white Championship vs. Houston Comets yes no |- style="background:#fcc;" | 1 | August 30 | New York | L 51–65 | Kym Hampton (13) | Kym Hampton (13) | Teresa Weatherspoon (5) | The Summit | 1–0 NYL yes 1997 Season standings NYL Statistics Regular season Player GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG Rebecca Lobo 28 28 33.5 .376 .286 .610 7.3 1.9 0.9 1.8 12.4 Teresa Weatherspoon 28 28 33.0 .467 .086 .650 4.1 6.2 3.0 0.1 7.0 Sophia Witherspoon 28 28 31.0 .406 .349 .748 3.0 2.3 1.8 0.3 14.5 Vickie Johnson 26 25 30.3 .404 .190 .771 4.2 2.5 0.7 0.2 9.6 Kym Hampton 28 28 23.7 .474 .000 .640 5.8 1.4 1.4 0.7 9.8 Kisha Ford 28 3 16.9 .377 .150 .614 1.7 0.9 1.0 0.2 4.1 Trena Trice 28 0 12.1 .554 .250 .667 2.4 0.1 0.3 0.3 4.8 Sue Wicks 28 0 11.9 .355 .286 .667 3.4 1.0 0.6 0.6 3.6 Rhonda Blades 28 0 10.4 .357 .315 .650 0.8 1.1 0.5 0.0 2.9 Cassandra Crumpton-Moorer 2 0 5.5 .250 .000 N/A 1.0 0.5 0.0 0.0 1.0 Jasmina Perazić-Gipe 9 0 5.2 .385 .000 N/A 1.2 0.4 0.3 0.0 1.1 ‡Waived/Released during the season †Traded during the season ≠Acquired during the season Kym Hampton ranked tenth in the WNBA in total rebounds with 163 Kym Hampton ranked tenth in the WNBA in blocks with 19. Kym Hampton ranked fifth in the WNBA in Field Goal Percentage (.471) Rebecca Lobo ranked fourth in the WNBA in blocks with 51. Rebecca Lobo ranked fourth in the WNBA in total rebounds with 203. Rebecca Lobo ranked eighth in the WNBA in minutes per game with 33.5 minutes per game. Sophia Witherspoon ranked seventh in the WNBA in points with 407 points. Sophia Witherspoon ranked ninth in the WNBA in field goals with 140. Sophia Witherspoon ranked seventh in the WNBA in points per game with 14.5 Sophia Witherspoon was tied for tenth in the WNBA in steals with 49. Teresa Weatherspoon ranked tenth in the WNBA in minutes per game with 33.0 minutes. https://www.basketball-reference.com/wnba/years/1997.html 1997 WNBA Season Summary Awards and honors Rebecca Lobo, Forward, All-WNBA Second Team Teresa Weatherspoon, Guard, All-WNBA Second Team http://www.wnba.com/history/awards_1997.html Postseason Awards: 1997 WNBA.com 2022-09-04 Teresa Weatherspoon: Led WNBA, Assists, 172 Teresa Weatherspoon: Led WNBA, Steals, 85 Teresa Weatherspoon: Led WNBA, Assists per game, 6.1 Teresa Weatherspoon: Led WNBA, Steals per game, 3.0 References Category:New York Liberty seasons New York New York Liberty