1997 Houston Comets season

August 2023 March 2026 Houston Comets 1997 18 10 Eastern 1st Van Chancellor The Summit Won WNBA Finals yes True The 1997 WNBA season was the first season for the Houston Comets. The Comets won the inaugural WNBA Finals. Transactions WNBA allocation draft Player Nationality School/Team/Country Cynthia Cooper USC Sheryl Swoopes Texas Tech WNBA elite draft WNBA elite draft Round Pick Player Nationality School/Team/Country 1 5 Wanda Guyton South Florida 2 13 Janeth Arcain Brazil WNBA draft 1997 WNBA draft Round Pick Player Nationality School/Team/Country 1 1 Tina Thompson USC 2 16 Tammy Jackson Florida317Racquel SpurlockLouisiana Tech432Catarina PolliniTexas Transactions DateTransaction January 22, 1997 Drafted Cynthia Cooper and Sheryl Swoopes in the 1997 WNBA Allocation Draft1997 Houston Comets Transactions https://www.basketball-reference.com/wnba/teams/HOU/1997_transactions.html 2024-05-23 Basketball-Reference.com en February 27, 1997 Drafted Wanda Guyton and Janeth Arcain in the 1997 WNBA Elite Draft April 28, 1997 Drafted Tina Thompson, Tammy Jackson, Racquel Spurlock and Catarina Pollini in the 1997 WNBA draftHired Van Chancellor as Head Coach Roster Houston Comets 1997 WNBA 9 Janeth Arcain G 5 11 147 1969-04-11 R BRA 14 Cynthia Cooper Cynthia Cooper-Dyke G 5 10 150 1963-04-14 R USC USA 8 Pietra Gay 1 G/F 5 11 1974-08-21 R LSU Trinidad and Tobago 4 Wanda Guyton C 6 1 178 1968-10-14 R South Florida USA 20 Fran Harris G/F 6 0 153 1965-03-12 R Texas USA 23 Tammy Jackson F/C 6 2 190 1962-12-03 R Florida USA 33 Yolanda Moore F/C 6 0 175 1974-07-01 R Ole Miss USA 10 Kim Perrot G 5 5 130 1967-01-18 R Louisiana–Lafayette USA 11 Catarina Pollini F 6 5 1966-03-16 R Texas ITA 22 Sheryl Swoopes F/G 6 0 145 1971-03-25 R Texas Tech USA 7 Tina Thompson F 6 2 178 1975-02-10 R USC USA 5 Tiffany Woosley G 5 7 132 1973-04-26 R Tennessee USA USA Van Chancellor Mississippi State USA Peggie Gillom Schedule Regular season Houston Comets 1997 Total: 18–10 (Home: 9–5; Road: 9–5) Houston Comets June yes 2 1 2 0 |- | 1 | June 21 | @ Cleveland | W 76–56 | Cynthia Cooper (25) | Cynthia Cooper (8) | Cynthia Cooper (2) | Gund Arena | 1–0 |- | 2 | June 24 | Phoenix | W 72–55 | Janeth Arcain (23) | Janeth Arcain (8) | Cynthia Cooper (3) | The Summit | 2–0 |- | 3 | June 26 | New York | L 60–62 (OT) | Cynthia Cooper (20) | Wanda Guyton (9) | Cynthia Cooper (3) | The Summit | 2–1 |- | 4 | June 28 | @ Utah | W 76–58 | Cynthia Cooper (20) | Wanda Guyton (9) | Cynthia Cooper (3) | Delta Center | 3–1 |- | 5 | June 30 | Los Angeles | W 71–66 (OT) | Janeth Arcain (17) | Tammy Jackson (8) | Cynthia Cooper (5) | The Summit | 4–1 Houston Comets July 3 2 3 3 |- | 6 | July 2 | @ New York | L 67–72 | Cynthia Cooper (19) | Wanda Guyton (8) | Cynthia Cooper (6) | Madison Square Garden | 4–2 |- | 7 | July 4 | New York | L 58–65 | Tina Thompson (15) | Arcain Harris (7) | Cynthia Cooper (8) | The Summit | 4–3 |- | 8 | July 7 | Charlotte | W 74–56 | Cynthia Cooper (21) | Tina Thompson (9) | Cynthia Cooper (6) | The Summit | 5–3 |- | 9 | July 9 | @ Phoenix | L 64–69 | Cynthia Cooper (16) | Tina Thompson (7) | Kim Perrot (4) | America West Arena | 5–4 |- | 10 | July 12 | Sacramento | W 89–61 | Cynthia Cooper (20) | Tina Thompson (10) | Cynthia Cooper (8) | The Summit | 6–4 |- | 11 | July 14 | Utah | W 79–56 | Arcain Guyton (17) | Fran Harris (8) | Kim Perrot (4) | The Summit | 7–4 |- | 12 | July 16 | @ Los Angeles | L 52–77 | Cooper Thompson (17) | Janeth Arcain (8) | Arcain Cooper (3) | Great Western Forum | 7–5 |- | 13 | July 18 | @ Sacramento | W 82–60 | Cynthia Cooper (19) | Tammy Jackson (12) | Kim Perrot (7) | ARCO Arena | 8–5 |- | 14 | July 23 | @ Phoenix | W 77–69 | Cynthia Cooper (32) | Janeth Arcain (7) | Cynthia Cooper (6) | America West Arena | 9–5 |- | 15 | July 25 | @ Sacramento | W 86–76 | Cynthia Cooper (44) | Wanda Guyton (7) | Janeth Arcain (5) | ARCO Arena | 10–5 |- | 16 | July 29 | Cleveland | L 64–73 | Tina Thompson (24) | Tina Thompson (9) | Cynthia Cooper (5) | The Summit | 10–6 | Houston Comets August 4 2 4 2 |- | 17 | August 1 | @ Los Angeles | W 81–57 | Cynthia Cooper (34) | Tina Thompson (9) | Cynthia Cooper (5) | Great Western Forum | 11–6 |- | 18 | August 2 | @ Utah | L 63–74 | Tina Thompson (20) | Tammy Jackson (6) | Cooper Thompson (5) | Delta Center | 11–7 |- | 19 | August 5 | @ Cleveland | W 76–66 | Cynthia Cooper (30) | Janeth Arcain (8) | Cynthia Cooper (6) | Gund Arena | 12–7 |- | 20 | August 7 | Phoenix | W 74–70 | Cynthia Cooper (34) | Tina Thompson (10) | Kim Perrot (6) | The Summit | 13–7 |- | 21 | August 9 | Los Angeles | W 72–71 (2OT) | Kim Perrot (19) | Tina Thompson (10) | Cynthia Cooper (8) | The Summit | 14–7 |- | 22 | August 11 | @ Charlotte | W 72–62 | Cynthia Cooper (39) | Tammy Jackson (7) | Kim Perrot (7) | Charlotte Coliseum | 15–7 |- | 23 | August 12 | Utah | W 76–56 | Cynthia Cooper (21) | Guyton Thompson (7) | Kim Perrot (5) | The Summit | 16–7 |- | 24 | August 16 | @ Charlotte | L 71–80 | Sheryl Swoopes (20) | Tina Thompson (6) | Kim Perrot (7) | Charlotte Coliseum | 16–8 |- | 25 | August 17 | @ New York | W 70–55 | Cynthia Cooper (17) | Jackson | Thompson (12) | Kim Perrot (6) | Madison Square Garden | 17–8 |- | 26 | August 19 | Charlotte | W 77–69 | Cynthia Cooper (31) | Wanda Guyton (10) | Cooper Thompson (4) | The Summit | 18–8 |- | 27 | August 21 | Cleveland | L 75–76 | Kim Perrot (18) | Wanda Guyton (10) | Cynthia Cooper (9) | The Summit | 18–9 |- | 28 | August 24 | Sacramento | L 58–68 | Cynthia Cooper (16) | Tina Thompson (9) | Cynthia Cooper (5) | The Summit | 18–10 hou 1997 Playoffs Houston Comets yes 1997 Houston Comets Semifinal vs. Charlotte Sting yes yes no |- | 1 | August 28 | Charlotte | W 54–70 | Cynthia Cooper (31) | Tina Thompson (12) | Cynthia Cooper (5) | The Summit | 1–0 Houston Comets Championship vs. New York Liberty yes no |- | 1 | August 30 | New York | W 65–51 | Cynthia Cooper (25) | Tammy Jackson (11) | Cynthia Cooper (4) | The Summit | 1–0 HOU yes 1997 Season standings HOU Statistics Regular season Player GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG Cynthia Cooper 28 28 35.1 .470 .414 .864 4.0 4.7 2.1 0.2 22.2 Tina Thompson 28 28 31.6 .418 .370 .838 6.6 1.1 0.8 2.2 13.2 Janeth Arcain 28 27 28.0 .440 .273 .894 3.9 1.6 1.5 2.4 10.9 Wanda Guyton 25 25 26.7 .467 N/A .559 5.4 0.5 1.0 1.7 6.1 Kim Perrot 28 24 24.7 .364 .283 .405 2.7 3.1 2.5 2.3 5.8 Tammy Jackson 28 3 19.5 .409 .000 .610 4.1 0.4 1.6 1.8 4.1 Tiffany Woosley 26 4 15.3 .330 .320 .250 1.1 1.1 0.7 1.2 2.9 Fran Harris 25 1 14.8 .346 .333 .710 2.2 1.0 0.7 1.2 4.2 Sheryl Swoopes 9 0 14.3 .472 .250 .714 1.7 0.8 0.8 0.4 7.1 Yolanda Moore 13 0 7.2 .250 N/A .500 1.0 0.1 0.1 0.5 1.2 Catarina Pollini 13 0 7.2 .364 N/A .500 0.9 0.4 0.3 0.7 1.7 Pietra Gay 5 0 2.4 .500 N/A .400 0.6 0.4 0.2 0.8 0.8 ‡Waived/Released during the season †Traded during the season ≠Acquired during the season Janeth Arcain ranked second in the WNBA in Free Throw Pct with .894 Cynthia Cooper ranked fifth in the WNBA in assists with 131. Cynthia Cooper ranked sixth in the WNBA in Field Goal Percentage (.470) Cynthia Cooper ranked third in the WNBA in Free Throw Pct with .864 Cynthia Cooper ranked first in the WNBA in field goals with 191. Cynthia Cooper ranked first in the WNBA in points with 621. Cynthia Cooper ranked fifth in the WNBA in minutes per game with 35.1 Cynthia Cooper ranked fifth in the WNBA in steals with 59. Kim Perrot ranked ninth in the WNBA in assists with 88. Kim Perrot ranked third in the WNBA in steals with 69. Tina Thompson ranked ninth in the WNBA in points with 370 points.- Tina Thompson ranked seventh in the WNBA in total rebounds with 184 Tina Thompson ranked ninth in the WNBA in points per game with 13.2 Tina Thompson ranked seventh in the WNBA in Free Throw Pct with .838 Tina Thompson tied for fifth in the WNBA in blocks with 28. Awards and honors Cynthia Cooper, WNBA Most Valuable Player Award Cynthia Cooper, WNBA Finals MVP Award Cynthia Cooper, Guard, All-WNBA First Team Cynthia Cooper: Led WNBA, Field Goals 191https://www.basketball-reference.com/wnba/years/1997.html 1997 WNBA Season Summary Cynthia Cooper: Led WNBA, 3-Pt Field Goals, 67 Cynthia Cooper: Led WNBA, Free Throws, 172 Cynthia Cooper: Led WNBA, Free Throw Attempts, 199 Cynthia Cooper: Led WNBA, Points, 621 Cynthia Cooper: Led WNBA, Points per game, 22.2 Cynthia Cooper: Ranked third in the WNBA in minutes played, 982 Wanda Guyton: Second in WNBA (tied), Offensive Rebounds, 76 Tina Thompson, Forward, All-WNBA First Team Van Chancellor, Coach of the Year http://www.wnba.com/history/awards_1997.html Postseason Awards: 1997 WNBA.com 2022-09-04 References External links Comets on Basketball Reference Category:Houston Comets seasons Houston Houston Category:WNBA championship seasons Category:Eastern Conference (WNBA) championship seasons