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.
Transactions
WNBA allocation draft Player Nationality School/Team/Country Elena Baranova CSKA Moscow (Russia) Lady Hardmon Georgia
WNBA elite draft
Round Pick Player Nationality School/Team/Country 1 1 Dena Head Tennessee 2 9 Wendy Palmer Virginia
WNBA draft
Round Pick Player Nationality School/Team/Country 1 5 Tammi Reiss Virginia 2 12 Jessie Hicks Maryland321Raegan ScottColorado428Kim WilliamsDePaul
Transactions DateTransaction January 22, 1997 Drafted Elena Baranova and Lady Hardmon in the 1997 WNBA Allocation Draft February 27, 1997 Drafted Dena Head and Wendy Palmer in the 1997 WNBA Elite DraftApril 19, 1997Hired Denise Taylor as Head Coach April 28, 1997 Drafted Tammi Reiss, Jessie Hicks, Raegan Scott and Kim Williams in the 1997 WNBA draftJune 20, 1997Waived Megan Compain
Roster
Schedule
Regular season
| 1 | June 21 | Sacramento | L 60–70 | Tammi Reiss (14) | Baranova Palmer Reiss (7) | Lady Hardmon (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
| 5 | July 2 | @ Sacramento | W 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 Hardmon (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 Hardmon (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 Hardmon (6) | Delta Center | 3–7 |- | 11 | July 14 | @ Houston | L 56–79 | Lady Hardmon (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 | Hardmon Palmer (14) | Lady Hardmon (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
| 18 | August 2 | Houston | W 74–63 | Elena Baranova (17) | Elena Baranova (12) | Hardmon 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) | Hardmon Reiss (4) | ARCO Arena | 6–15 |- | 22 | August 11 | Cleveland | L 59–74 | Tammi Reiss (12) | Wendy Palmer (11) | Lady Hardmon (5) | Delta Center | 6–16 |- | 23 | August 12 | @ Houston | L 56–76 | Wendy Palmer (18) | Wendy Palmer (11) | Lady Hardmon (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
Season standings
Statistics
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 Hardmon 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.
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
References
External links Starzz on Basketball Reference