1997 Cleveland Rockers season

The 1997 WNBA season was the inaugural season for the Cleveland Rockers.

1997 Cleveland Rockers season
CoachLinda Hill-MacDonald
ArenaGund Arena
Attendance7,971 per game
Results
Record15–13 (.536)
Place4th (Eastern)
Playoff finishDid not qualify
Team Leaders
PointsEva Nemcova (13.7)
ReboundsJanice Braxton (7.6)
AssistsMichelle Edwards (4.5)

Transactions

WNBA allocation draft
Player Nationality School/Team/Country
Janice Braxton  United States NC State
Michelle Edwards  United States Maryland

WNBA elite draft
See also: WNBA elite draft
Round Pick Player Nationality School/Team/Country
1 2 Isabelle Fijalkowski  France Colorado
2 10 Lynette Woodard  United States Kansas

WNBA draft
See also: 1997 WNBA draft
Round Pick Player Nationality School/Team/Country
1 4 Eva Němcová Czechoslovakia Bourges (France)
2 13 Merlakia Jones  United States Florida
3 20 Tina Nicholson  United States Penn State
4 29 Anita Maxwell  United States New Mexico State

Transactions
Date Transaction
January 22, 1997 Drafted Janice Braxton and Michelle Edwards in the 1997 WNBA Allocation Draft[1]
February 27, 1997 Drafted Isabelle Fijalkowski and Lynette Woodard in the 1997 WNBA Elite Draft[1]
April 28, 1997 Drafted Eva Němcová, Merlakia Jones, Tina Nicholson and Anita Maxwell in the 1997 WNBA Draft[1]
May 6, 1997 Hired Linda Hill-MacDonald as Head Coach[1]

Roster
1997 Cleveland Rockers roster
PlayersCoaches
Pos.#Nat.NameHeightWeightDOBFromYrs
G 20 Alberts, Marcie 5' 4" (1.63m) – 1975-04-12 Ohio State R
G 14 Boucek, Jenny 5' 8" (1.73m) 130 lb (59kg) 1973-12-20 Virginia R
F 8 Braxton, Janice 6' 3" (1.91m) 178 lb (81kg) 1962-06-07 Louisiana Tech R
F 34 Brown, Rushia 6' 2" (1.88m) 175 lb (79kg) 1972-05-05 Furman R
G 44 Edwards, Michelle 5' 9" (1.75m) 150 lb (68kg) 1966-03-06 Iowa R
F/C 13 Fijalkowski, Isabelle 6' 5" (1.96m) 200 lb (91kg) 1972-05-23 Colorado R
G 31 Johnson, Adrienne 5' 10" (1.78m) 154 lb (70kg) 1974-02-05 Ohio State R
G 25 Jones, Merlakia 5' 10" (1.78m) 147 lb (67kg) 1973-06-21 Florida R
F 40 Maxwell, Anita  – – 1974-04-07 New Mexico State R
F 6 Němcová, Eva 6' 3" (1.91m) 178 lb (81kg) 1972-12-03 R
G 11 Nicholson, Tina 5' 2" (1.57m) 146 lb (66kg) 1973-09-27 Penn State R
G 4 Woodard, Lynette 6' 0" (1.83m) 160 lb (73kg) 1959-08-12 Kansas R
Head coach
Linda Hill-MacDonald (West Chester)
Assistant coaches
Mike Wilhelm



Legend
  • (C) Team captain
  • (FA) Free agent
  • (IN) Inactive
  • (S) Suspended
  • Injured

Schedule

Regular season
1997 game log
Total: 15–13 (Home: 10–5; Road: 7–9)
June: 1–3 (Home: 1–2; Road: 0–1)
GameDateTeamScoreHigh pointsHigh reboundsHigh assistsLocation
Attendance		Record
1 June 21 Houston L 56–76 Isabelle Fijalkowski (12) Lynette Woodard (7) Braxton
Edwards
Nicholson
Němcová (2)		 Gund Arena 0–1
2 June 26 Utah W 74–63 Isabelle Fijalkowski (21) Janice Braxton (14) Michelle Edwards (8) Gund Arena 1–1
3 June 28 Phoenix L 63–68 Michelle Edwards (14) Janice Braxton (12) Fijalkowski
Němcová (5)		 Gund Arena 1–2
4 June 29 @ Charlotte W 67–44 Isabelle Fijalkowski (15) Isabelle Fijalkowski (9) Braxton
Boucek
Woodard (3)		 Charlotte Coliseum 1–3
July : 9–5 (Home: 4–2; Road: 5–3)
GameDateTeamScoreHigh pointsHigh reboundsHigh assistsLocation
Attendance		Record
5 July 3 Los Angeles L 62–74 Janice Braxton (15) Janice Braxton (10) Boucek
Němcová (3)		 Gund Arena 1–4
6 July 6 @ Sacramento L 67–70 Merlakia Jones (15) Isabelle Fijalkowski (9) Tina Nicholson (5) ARCO Arena 1–5
7 July 7 @ Los Angeles W 81–70 Braxton
Woodard (20)		 Lynette Woodard (11) Lynette Woodard (6) Great Western Forum 2–5
8 July 10 Sacramento W 77–61 Janice Braxton (19) Janice Braxton (11) Isabelle Fijalkowski (4) Gund Arena 3–5
9 July 12 @ Charlotte L 43–72 Eva Němcová (11) Braxton
Brown (8)		 Němcová
Woodard (3)		 Charlotte Coliseum 3–6
10 July 14 New York L 57–68 Janice Braxton (18) Isabelle Fijalkowski (5) Tina Nicholson (9) Gund Arena 3–7
11 July 15 @ New York L 59–76 Lynette Woodard (12) Eva Němcová (7) Fijalkowski
Woodard (3)		 Madison Square Garden 3–8
12 July 17 Charlotte W 65–47 Němcová
Woodard (14)		 Isabelle Fijalkowski (11) Isabelle Fijalkowski (6) Gund Arena 4–8
13 July 19 Utah W 95–68 Janice Braxton (19) Lynette Woodard (11) Nicholson
Woodard (6)		 Gund Arena 5–8
14 July 23 @ Los Angeles W 89–85 Isabelle Fijalkowski (24) Janice Braxton (6) Michelle Edwards (6) Great Western Forum 6–8
15 July 26 @ Utah W 77–66 Rushia Brown (17) Isabelle Fijalkowski (10) Eva Němcová (4) Delta Center 7–8
16 July 28 @ Phoenix W 76–64 Eva Němcová (22) Janice Braxton (10) Edwards
Fijalkowski (5)		 America West Arena 8–8
17 July 29 @ Houston W 73–64 Eva Němcová (18) Janice Braxton (7) Edwards
Fijalkowski (5)		 The Summit 9–8
18 July 31 Phoenix W 79–67 Eva Němcová (17) Edwards
Woodard (5)		 Michelle Edwards (6) Gund Arena 10–8
August : 7–6 (Home: 5–1; Road: 2–5)
GameDateTeamScoreHigh pointsHigh reboundsHigh assistsLocation
Attendance		Record
19 August 2 Sacramento W 72–51 Isabelle Fijalkowski (22) Edwards
Fijalkowski (9)		 Michelle Edwards (7) Gund Arena 11–8
20 August 5 Houston L 66–76 Michelle Edwards (17) Janice Braxton (6) Michelle Edwards (7) Gund Arena 11–9
21 August 7 Los Angeles L 84–87 (2OT) Eva Němcová (22) Isabelle Fijalkowski (10) Edwards
Woodard (5)		 Gund Arena 11–10
22 August 11 @ Utah W 74–59 Merlakia Jones (19) Rushia Brown (11) Michelle Edwards (6) Delta Center 12–10
23 August 12 @ Sacramento L 76–81 Eva Němcová (16) Brown
Fijalkowski (9)		 Isabelle Fijalkowski (5) ARCO Arena 12–11
24 August 14 @ Phoenix L 55–61 Merlakia Jones (12) Brown
Němcová (8)		 Michelle Edwards (7) America West Arena 12–12
25 August 17 Charlotte W 81–49 Eva Němcová (21) Janice Braxton (15) Braxton
Němcová (4)		 Gund Arena 13–12
26 August 21 @ Houston W 76–75 Michelle Edwards (15) Braxton
Woodard (5)		 Braxton
Fijalkowski (3)		 The Summit 14–12
27 August 23 New York W 72–71 Janice Braxton (19) Janice Braxton (8) Edwards
Woodard (5)		 Gund Arena 15–12
28 August 24 @ New York L 72–79 (OT) Janice Braxton (15) Braxton
Fijalkowski (4)		 Eva Němcová (4) Madison Square Garden 15–13
1997 season schedule

Season standings
Eastern Conference W L PCT Conf. GB
Houston Comets x1810.6436–6–
New York Liberty x1711.6078–41.0
Charlotte Sting x1513.5365–73.0
Cleveland Rockers o1513.5365–73.0

Statistics
Legend
  GP Games played   GS  Games started  MPG  Minutes per game  RPG  Rebounds per game
 APG  Assists per game  SPG  Steals per game  BPG  Blocks per game  PPG  Points per game
 FG%  Field-goal percentage  3P%  3-point field-goal percentage  FT%  Free-throw percentage  TO  Turnovers per game
 PF  Fouls per game Team leader League leader

Regular Season
Player GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
Eva Němcová 28 28 33.7 .473 .435 .855 3.9 2.4 1.4 0.3 13.7
Janice Braxton 25 24 32.9 .417 .500 .768 7.6 2.0 1.4 1.1 11.5
Michelle Edwards 20 14 31.1 .447 .240 .523 3.5 4.5 1.8 0.2 10.2
Isabelle Fijalkowski 28 28 28.7 .508 .250 .786 5.6 2.4 0.6 0.6 11.9
Lynette Woodard 28 27 25.4 .401 .000 .672 4.1 2.4 1.6 0.4 7.8
Merlakia Jones 28 1 21.0 .402 .417 .714 2.9 0.9 0.8 0.1 8.2
Rushia Brown 28 3 18.3 .520 N/A .734 4.0 0.7 1.2 0.5 6.3
Tina Nicholson 24 14 11.4 .409 .375 .600 0.4 1.8 0.5 0.0 2.0
Jenny Boucek 10 1 11.2 .467 .000 .571 1.0 0.9 0.6 0.0 1.8
Adrienne Johnson 25 2 7.8 .379 .500 .778 0.9 0.4 0.2 0.0 2.1
Anita Maxwell 9 0 7.0 .320 N/A .375 1.3 0.9 0.4 0.0 2.1
Marcie Alberts 5 0 6.0 .000 .000 N/A 0.2 0.6 0.4 0.0 0.0


‡Waived/Released during the season
†Traded during the season
≠Acquired during the season

  • Janice Braxton ranked sixth in the WNBA in total rebounds with 189
  • Janice Braxton tied for fifth in the WNBA in blocks with 28.
  • Michelle Edwards ranked eighth in the WNBA in assists with 89.
  • Isabelle Fijalkowski ranked second in the WNBA in Field Goal Percentage (.508)
  • Isabelle Fijalkowski ranked eighth in the WNBA in Free Throw Pct with .786
  • Eva Nemcova ranked fourth in the WNBA in Field Goal Percentage (.473)
  • Eva Nemcova ranked fourth in the WNBA in Free Throw Pct with .855
  • Eva Nemcova ranked tenth in the WNBA in field goals with 138.
  • Eva Nemcova ranked eighth in the WNBA in points with 384 points.
  • Eva Nemcova ranked seventh in the WNBA in minutes per game with 33.7
  • Eva Nemcova ranked eighth in the WNBA in points per game with 13.7

Awards and honors
  • Janice Braxton, Ranked second in the WNBA (tied), Defensive Rebounds, 151
  • Isabelle Fijalkowski: Led WNBA, Personal Fouls, 129
  • Eva Nemcova: Led WNBA, 3-Pt Field Goal Percentage, .435

[2]

References
  1. "1997 Cleveland Rockers Transactions". Basketball-Reference.com. Retrieved May 22, 2024.
  2. "1997 WNBA Season Summary".
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