1997 New York Liberty season

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

1997 New York Liberty season
Coach	Nancy Darsch
Arena	Madison Square Garden
Attendance	13,270 per game
Results
Record	17–11 (.607)
Place	2nd (Eastern)
Playoff finish	Lost WNBA Finals
1998 season →

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
Players	Coaches
Pos. No. Nat. Name Height Weight DOB From Yrs 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 (DP) Unsigned draft pick (FA) Free agent (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) Game Date Team Score High points High rebounds High assists Location 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) Game Date Team Score High points High rebounds High assists Location 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) Game Date Team Score High points High rebounds High assists Location 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 Game Date Team Score High points High rebounds High assists Location 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 Game Date Team Score High points High rebounds High assists Location 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 x	18	10	.643	6–6	–
New York Liberty x	17	11	.607	8–4	1.0
Charlotte Sting x	15	13	.536	5–7	3.0
Cleveland Rockers o	15	13	.536	5–7	3.0

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.