1997 New York Liberty season

The 1997 WNBA season was the first season for the New York Liberty.

1997 New York Liberty season
CoachNancy Darsch
ArenaMadison Square Garden
Attendance13,270 per game
Results
Record17–11 (.607)
Place2nd (Eastern)
Playoff finishLost WNBA Finals

WNBA allocation draft
Player Nationality School/Team/Country
Rebecca Lobo  United States UConn
Teresa Weatherspoon  United States Louisiana Tech

WNBA elite draft
See also: WNBA elite draft
Round Pick Player Nationality School/Team/Country
1 4 Kym Hampton  United States Arizona State
2 12 Vickie Johnson  United States Louisiana Tech

WNBA draft
See also: 1997 WNBA draft
Round Pick Player Nationality School/Team/Country
1 6 Sue Wicks  United States Rutgers
2 11 Sophia Witherspoon  United States Florida
3 22 Trena Trice  United States NC State
4 27 Kisha Ford  United States Georgia Tech

Transactions
Date Transaction
January 22, 1997 Drafted Rebecca Lobo and Teresa Weatherspoon in the 1997 WNBA Allocation Draft[1]
February 27, 1997 Drafted Kym Hampton and Vickie Johnson in the 1997 WNBA Elite Draft[1]
April 19, 1997 Hired Nancy Darsch as Head Coach[1]
April 28, 1997 Drafted Sue Wicks, Sophia Witherspoon, Trena Trice and Kisha Ford in the 1997 WNBA Draft[1]
August 11, 1997 Waived Jasmina Perazić-Gipe[1]

Roster
1997 New York Liberty roster
PlayersCoaches
Pos.#Nat.NameHeightWeightDOBFromYrs
G 10 Blades, Rhonda 5' 7" (1.7m) 138 lb (63kg) 1972-10-29 Vanderbilt R
G 22 Crumpton-Moorer, Cassandra 5' 11" (1.8m) 175 lb (79kg) 1962-10-29 Alabama R
G/F 5 Ford, Kisha 5' 10" (1.78m) 153 lb (69kg) 1975-04-04 Georgia Tech R
C 34 Hampton, Kym 6' 2" (1.88m) 210 lb (95kg) 1962-11-03 Arizona State R
G/F 55 Johnson, Vickie 5' 9" (1.75m) 150 lb (68kg) 1972-04-15 Louisiana Tech R
C 50 Lobo, Rebecca 6' 4" (1.93m) 185 lb (84kg) 1973-10-06 Connecticut R
G/F 13 Perazić-Gipe, Jasmina 6' 0" (1.83m) – 1960-12-06 Maryland R
F/C 33 Trice, Trena 6' 2" (1.88m) 180 lb (82kg) 1965-08-04 NC State R
G 11 Weatherspoon, Teresa 5' 8" (1.73m) 161 lb (73kg) 1965-12-08 Louisiana Tech R
F 23 Wicks, Sue 6' 3" (1.91m) 174 lb (79kg) 1966-11-26 Rutgers R
G/F 13 Witherspoon, Sophia 5' 10" (1.78m) 145 lb (66kg) 1969-07-06 Florida R
Head coach
Nancy Darsch (Tennessee)
Assistant coaches
Melissa McFerrin
Lisa White



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

Schedule

Regular season
1997 game log
Total: 17–11 (Home: 10–5; Road: 7–6)
June: 4–0 (Home: 1–0; Road: 3–0)
GameDateTeamScoreHigh pointsHigh reboundsHigh assistsLocation
Attendance		Record
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
July : 10–4 (Home: 6–2; Road: 4–2)
GameDateTeamScoreHigh pointsHigh reboundsHigh assistsLocation
Attendance		Record
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
August : 3–7 (Home: 3–3; Road: 0–4)
GameDateTeamScoreHigh pointsHigh reboundsHigh assistsLocation
Attendance		Record
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
1997 season schedule

Playoffs
1997 playoff game log
Semifinal vs. Phoenix Mercury
GameDateTeamScoreHigh pointsHigh reboundsHigh assistsLocation
Attendance		Series
1 August 28 @ Phoenix W 59–41 Rebecca Lobo (16) Kym Hampton (14) Teresa Weatherspoon (5) America West Arena 1–0
Championship vs. Houston Comets
GameDateTeamScoreHigh pointsHigh reboundsHigh assistsLocation
Attendance		Series
1 August 30 New York L 51–65 Kym Hampton (13) Kym Hampton (13) Teresa Weatherspoon (5) The Summit 1–0
1997 playoff 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
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.

[2]

Awards and honors
  • Rebecca Lobo, Forward, All-WNBA Second Team
  • Teresa Weatherspoon, Guard, All-WNBA Second Team

[3]

  • 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 [2]

References
  1. "1997 New York Liberty Transactions". Basketball-Reference.com. Retrieved May 22, 2024.
  2. "1997 WNBA Season Summary".
  3. "Postseason Awards: 1997". WNBA.com. Retrieved September 4, 2022.
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