1997 Utah Starzz season

The 1997 WNBA season was the inaugural season for the Utah Starzz. The Starzz were partially named after the old ABA team, the Utah Stars, but with the zz at the end like the Utah Jazz. The franchise held the distinction of having the worst record in the WNBA in 1997.

1997 Utah Starzz season
CoachDenise Taylor
ArenaDelta Center
Attendance7,611 per game
Results
Record7–21 (.250)
Place4th (Western)
Playoff finishDid not qualify

Transactions

WNBA allocation draft
Player Nationality School/Team/Country
Elena Baranova  Soviet Union CSKA Moscow (Russia)
Lady Grooms  United States Georgia

WNBA elite draft
See also: WNBA elite draft
Round Pick Player Nationality School/Team/Country
1 1 Dena Head  United States Tennessee
2 9 Wendy Palmer  United States Virginia

WNBA draft
See also: 1997 WNBA draft
Round Pick Player Nationality School/Team/Country
1 5 Tammi Reiss  United States Virginia
2 12 Jessie Hicks  United States Maryland
3 21 Raegan Scott  United States Colorado
4 28 Kim Williams  United States DePaul

Transactions
Date Transaction
January 22, 1997 Drafted Elena Baranova and Lady Grooms in the 1997 WNBA Allocation Draft[1]
February 27, 1997 Drafted Dena Head and Wendy Palmer in the 1997 WNBA Elite Draft[1]
April 19, 1997 Hired Denise Taylor as Head Coach[1]
April 28, 1997 Drafted Tammi Reiss, Jessie Hicks, Raegan Scott and Kim Williams in the 1997 WNBA Draft[1]
June 20, 1997 Waived Megan Compain[1]

Roster
1997 Utah Starzz roster
PlayersCoaches
Pos.#Nat.NameHeightWeightDOBFromYrs
F 28 Baranova, Elena 6' 5" (1.96m) 182 lb (83kg) 1972-01-28 R
C 40 Booker, Karen 6' 1" (1.85m) 170 lb (77kg) 1965-04-10 Vanderbilt R
G/F 34 Carter, Deborah 6' 1" (1.85m) 185 lb (84kg) 1972-01-03 Georgia R
G 22 Compain, Megan 5' 9" (1.75m) – 1975-09-18 Saint Joseph's R
F 27 Grooms, Lady 5' 10" (1.78m) 160 lb (73kg) 1975-09-12 Georgia R
G 11 Head, Dena 5' 10" (1.78m) 175 lb (79kg) 1970-08-16 Tennessee R
F/C 25 Hicks, Jessie 6' 4" (1.93m) 188 lb (85kg) 1971-12-02 Maryland R
F 15 Koss, Greta 6' 1" (1.85m) 145 lb (66kg) 1974-06-12 Montana R
F 14 Palmer, Wendy 6' 2" (1.88m) 165 lb (75kg) 1974-08-12 Virginia R
G 32 Reiss, Tammi 5' 6" (1.68m) 129 lb (59kg) 1970-04-02 Virginia R
F/C 52 Scott, Raegan 6' 3" (1.91m) 169 lb (77kg) 1975-08-12 Colorado R
G 23 Williams, Kim 5' 6" (1.68m) 136 lb (62kg) 1974-10-14 DePaul R
Head coach
Denise Taylor (Texas Southern)
Assistant coaches
Greg Williams



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

Schedule

Regular season
1997 game log
Total: 7–21 (Home: 5–10; Road: 2–12)
June: 1–3 (Home: 1–2; Road: 0–1)
GameDateTeamScoreHigh pointsHigh reboundsHigh assistsLocation
Attendance		Record
1 June 21 Sacramento L 60–70 Tammi Reiss (14) Baranova
Palmer
Reiss (7)		 Lady Grooms (6) Delta Center 0–1
2 June 23 Los Angeles W 102–89 Wendy Palmer (28) Elena Baranova (10) Baranova
Reiss (5)		 Delta Center 1–1
3 June 26 @ Cleveland L 63–74 Wendy Palmer (15) Wendy Palmer (12) Baranova
Palmer
Williams (4)		 Gund Arena 1–2
4 June 28 Houston L 58–76 Wendy Palmer (14) Baranova
Carter (6)		 Booker
Palmer (4)		 Delta Center 1–3
July : 3–10 (Home: 1–4; Road: 2–6)
GameDateTeamScoreHigh pointsHigh reboundsHigh assistsLocation
Attendance		Record
5 July 2 @ Sacramento L 73–68 (OT) Wendy Palmer (18) Wendy Palmer (11) Kim Williams (5) ARCO Arena 2–3
6 July 3 Phoenix L 55–77 Wendy Palmer (19) Elena Baranova (12) Hicks
Williams (2)		 Delta Center 2–4
7 July 5 New York L 53–66 Lady Grooms (14) Wendy Palmer (10) Kim Williams (4) Delta Center 2–5
8 July 7 Sacramento L 69–79 Wendy Palmer (20) Wendy Palmer (6) Lady Grooms (5) Delta Center 2–6
9 July 11 @ Los Angeles L 68–75 Wendy Palmer (17) Elena Baranova (8) Baranova
Williams		 Great Western Forum 2–7
10 July 12 Phoenix W 52–51 Wendy Palmer (15) Wendy Palmer (10) Lady Grooms (6) Delta Center 3–7
11 July 14 @ Houston L 56–79 Lady Grooms (14) Elena Baranova (13) Kim Williams (10) The Summit 3–8
12 July 16 @ Charlotte L 63–75 Palmer
Williams (17)		 Tammi Reiss (7) Reiss
Williams (5)		 Charlotte Coliseum 3–9
13 July 17 @ New York L 54–80 Grooms
Palmer (14)		 Lady Grooms (6) Kim Williams (4) Madison Square Garden 3–10
14 July 21 @ Cleveland L 68–95 Elena Baranova (25) Elena Baranova (7) Baranova
Williams (4)		 Gund Arena 3–11
15 July 22 @ New York W 78–71 Elena Baranova (23) Wendy Palmer (10) Reiss
Williams (4)		 Madison Square Garden 4–11
16 July 26 Cleveland L 66–77 Elena Baranova (26) Elena Baranova (9) Tammi Reiss (5) Delta Center 4–12
17 July 30 @ Los Angeles L 69–91 Tammi Reiss (15) Wendy Palmer (8) Dena Head (7) Great Western Forum 4–13
August : 3–8 (Home: 3–3; Road: 0–5)
GameDateTeamScoreHigh pointsHigh reboundsHigh assistsLocation
Attendance		Record
18 August 2 Houston W 74–63 Elena Baranova (17) Elena Baranova (12) Grooms
Head
Koss (3)		 Delta Center 5–13
19 August 4 Charlotte W 73–70 Baranova
Reiss (17)		 Wendy Palmer (9) Tammi Reiss (8) Delta Center 6–13
20 August 6 @ Phoenix L 46–78 Elena Baranova (16) Baranova
Palmer (5)		 Tammi Reiss (5) America West Arena 6–14
21 August 8 @ Sacramento L 78–93 Wendy Palmer (25) Wendy Palmer (9) Grooms
Reiss (4)		 ARCO Arena 6–15
22 August 11 Cleveland L 59–74 Tammi Reiss (12) Wendy Palmer (11) Lady Grooms (5) Delta Center 6–16
23 August 12 @ Houston L 56–76 Wendy Palmer (18) Wendy Palmer (11) Lady Grooms (4) The Summit 6–17
24 August 16 Los Angeles L 64–74 Wendy Palmer (27) Wendy Palmer (13) Tammi Reiss (4) Delta Center 6–18
25 August 17 @ Phoenix L 63–71 (OT) Wendy Palmer (21) Greta Koss (11) Tammi Reiss (4) America West Arena 6–19
26 August 19 New York W 81–75 Wendy Palmer (19) Wendy Palmer (9) Dena Head (4) Delta Center 7–19
27 August 21 Charlotte L 56–66 Wendy Palmer (20) Wendy Palmer (14) Baranova
Head
Palmer
Reiss (3)		 Delta Center 7–20
28 August 24 @ Charlotte L 52–70 Jessie Hicks (13) Elena Baranova (10) Elena Baranova (4) Charlotte Coliseum 7–21
1997 season schedule

Season standings
Western Conference W L PCT Conf. GB
Phoenix Mercury x1612.5719–3–
Los Angeles Sparks o1414.5008–42.0
Sacramento Monarchs o1018.3574–86.0
Utah Starzz o721.2503–99.0

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
Wendy Palmer 28 28 33.4 .374 .250 .676 8.0 1.7 1.7 0.2 15.8
Elena Baranova 28 27 32.6 .390 .377 .694 7.4 2.2 1.5 2.3 12.2
Tammi Reiss 28 26 29.7 .312 .297 .764 2.8 3.1 0.8 0.1 7.7
Lady Grooms 28 24 24.7 .347 .100 .655 3.0 2.4 0.8 0.1 5.5
Kim Williams 28 10 21.7 .384 .265 .774 2.9 2.1 1.4 0.3 8.1
Greta Koss 13 10 20.6 .517 .667 .750 2.8 0.8 0.7 0.3 3.4
Dena Head 27 4 17.4 .390 .313 .884 2.3 1.7 0.5 0.3 5.7
Deborah Carter 18 7 15.9 .385 .143 .714 2.7 0.4 0.7 0.1 3.9
Karen Booker 26 4 12.3 .333 .000 .568 3.1 0.9 0.9 0.6 2.3
Jessie Hicks 26 0 10.1 .463 .000 .563 1.4 0.4 0.5 0.4 3.2
Reagan Scott 8 0 5.4 .385 N/A 1.000 0.9 0.1 0.1 0.4 1.5
Megan Compain 5 0 3.8 .286 ,250 N/A 1.0 0.4 0.8 0.2 1.0


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

  • Elena Baranova ranked third in the WNBA in total rebounds with 207
  • Dena Head ranked fifth in the WNBA in Free Throw Pct with .844
  • Wendy Palmer ranked second in the WNBA in total rebounds with 225.
  • Wendy Palmer ranked sixth in the WNBA in field goals with 157.
  • Wendy Palmer ranked fourth in the WNBA in points with 443 points.
  • Wendy Palmer ranked ninth in the WNBA in minutes per game with 33.4
  • Wendy Palmer ranked fourth in the WNBA in points per game with 15.8
  • Tammi Reiss ranked tenth in the WNBA in assists with 87.[2]

Awards and honors
  • Elena Baranova: Led WNBA, Blocks, 63
  • Elena Baranova: Led WNBA, Blocks per game, 2.2
  • Elena Baranova, Ranked second in the WNBA (tied), Defensive Rebounds, 151
  • Wanda Guyton: Ranked second in WNBA (tied), Offensive Rebounds, 76
  • Wendy Palmer: Led WNBA, Field Goal Attempts, 420
  • Wendy Palmer: Ranked second in the WNBA, Free Throws, 117

[2]

References
  1. "1997 Utah Starzz Transactions". Basketball-Reference.com. Retrieved May 28, 2024.
  2. "1997 WNBA Season Summary".
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