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
Round Pick Player Nationality School/Team/Country 1 4 Kym Hampton Arizona State 2 12 Vickie Johnson Louisiana Tech
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 Coach April 28, 1997 Drafted Sue Wicks, Sophia Witherspoon, Trena Trice and Kisha Ford in the 1997 WNBA draftAugust 11, 1997Waived Jasmina Perazić-Gipe
Roster
Schedule
Regular season
| 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
| 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
| 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
Playoffs
|- style="background:#bbffbb;" | 1 | August 28 | @ Phoenix | W 59–41 | Rebecca Lobo (16) | Kym Hampton (14) | Teresa Weatherspoon (5) | America West Arena | 1–0
|- style="background:#fcc;" | 1 | August 30 | New York | L 51–65 | Kym Hampton (13) | Kym Hampton (13) | Teresa Weatherspoon (5) | The Summit | 1–0
Season standings
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.
Awards and honors Rebecca Lobo, Forward, All-WNBA Second Team Teresa Weatherspoon, Guard, All-WNBA Second Team
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