1997 Cleveland Rockers season explained

The 1997 WNBA season was the inaugural season for the Cleveland Rockers.

Transactions

WNBA allocation draft

Player	Nationality	School/Team/Country
Janice Braxton		NC State
Michelle Edwards		Maryland

WNBA elite draft

See also: WNBA elite draft.

Round	Pick	Player	Nationality	School/Team/Country
1	2	Isabelle Fijalkowski		Colorado
2	10	Lynette Woodard		Kansas

WNBA draft

See also: 1997 WNBA draft.

Round	Pick	Player	Nationality	School/Team/Country
1	4	Eva Němcová	Czechoslovakia	Bourges (France)
2	13	Merlakia Jones		Florida
3	20	Tina Nicholson		Penn State
4	29	Anita Maxwell		New Mexico State

Transactions

Date	Transaction
January 22, 1997	Drafted Janice Braxton and Michelle Edwards in the 1997 WNBA Allocation Draft^[1]
February 27, 1997	Drafted Isabelle Fijalkowski and Lynette Woodard in the 1997 WNBA Elite Draft
April 28, 1997	Drafted Eva Němcová, Merlakia Jones, Tina Nicholson and Anita Maxwell in the 1997 WNBA Draft
May 6, 1997	Hired Linda Hill-MacDonald as Head Coach

Schedule

Regular season

|- style="background:#fcc;"| 1| June 21| Houston| L 56–76| Isabelle Fijalkowski (12)| Lynette Woodard (7)| Braxton
Edwards
Nicholson
Němcová (2)| Gund Arena| 0–1|- style="background:#bbffbb;"| 2| June 26| Utah| W 74–63| Isabelle Fijalkowski (21)| Janice Braxton (14)| Michelle Edwards (8)| Gund Arena| 1–1|- style="background:#fcc;"| 3| June 28| Phoenix| L 63–68| Michelle Edwards (14)| Janice Braxton (12)| Fijalkowski
Němcová (5)| Gund Arena| 1–2|- style="background:#fcc;"| 4| June 29| @ Charlotte| W 67–44| Isabelle Fijalkowski (15)| Isabelle Fijalkowski (9)| Braxton
Boucek
Woodard (3)| Charlotte Coliseum| 1–3|- style="background:#fcc;"| 5| July 3| Los Angeles| L 62–74| Janice Braxton (15)| Janice Braxton (10)| Boucek
Němcová (3)| Gund Arena| 1–4|- style="background:#fcc;"| 6| July 6| @ Sacramento| L 67–70| Merlakia Jones (15)| Isabelle Fijalkowski (9)| Tina Nicholson (5)| ARCO Arena| 1–5|- style="background:#bbffbb;"| 7| July 7| @ Los Angeles| W 81–70| Braxton
Woodard (20)| Lynette Woodard (11)| Lynette Woodard (6)| Great Western Forum| 2–5|- style="background:#bbffbb;"| 8| July 10| Sacramento| W 77–61| Janice Braxton (19)| Janice Braxton (11)| Isabelle Fijalkowski (4)| Gund Arena| 3–5|- style="background:#fcc;"| 9| July 12| @ Charlotte| L 43–72| Eva Němcová (11)| Braxton
Brown (8)| Němcová
Woodard (3)| Charlotte Coliseum| 3–6|- style="background:#fcc;"| 10| July 14| New York| L 57–68| Janice Braxton (18)| Isabelle Fijalkowski (5)| Tina Nicholson (9)| Gund Arena| 3–7|- style="background:#fcc;"| 11| July 15| @ New York| L 59–76| Lynette Woodard (12)| Eva Němcová (7)| Fijalkowski
Woodard (3)| Madison Square Garden| 3–8|- style="background:#bbffbb;"| 12| July 17| Charlotte| W 65–47| Němcová
Woodard (14)| Isabelle Fijalkowski (11)| Isabelle Fijalkowski (6)| Gund Arena| 4–8|- style="background:#bbffbb;"| 13| July 19| Utah| W 95–68| Janice Braxton (19)| Lynette Woodard (11)| Nicholson
Woodard (6)| Gund Arena| 5–8|- style="background:#bbffbb;"| 14| July 23| @ Los Angeles| W 89–85| Isabelle Fijalkowski (24)| Janice Braxton (6)| Michelle Edwards (6)| Great Western Forum| 6–8|- style="background:#bbffbb;"| 15| July 26| @ Utah| W 77–66| Rushia Brown (17)| Isabelle Fijalkowski (10)| Eva Němcová (4)| Delta Center| 7–8|- style="background:#bbffbb;"| 16| July 28| @ Phoenix| W 76–64| Eva Němcová (22)| Janice Braxton (10)| Edwards
Fijalkowski (5)| America West Arena| 8–8 |- style="background:#bbffbb;"| 17| July 29| @ Houston| W 73–64| Eva Němcová (18)| Janice Braxton (7)| Edwards
Fijalkowski (5)| The Summit| 9–8 |- style="background:#bbffbb;"| 18| July 31| Phoenix| W 79–67| Eva Němcová (17)| Edwards
Woodard (5)| Michelle Edwards (6)| Gund Arena| 10–8 |- | |- style="background:#bbffbb;"| 19| August 2| Sacramento| W 72–51| Isabelle Fijalkowski (22)| Edwards
Fijalkowski (9)| Michelle Edwards (7)| Gund Arena| 11–8 |- style="background:#fcc;"| 20| August 5| Houston| L 66–76| Michelle Edwards (17)| Janice Braxton (6)| Michelle Edwards (7)| Gund Arena| 11–9 |- style="background:#fcc;"| 21| August 7| Los Angeles| L 84–87 (2OT)| Eva Němcová (22)| Isabelle Fijalkowski (10)| Edwards
Woodard (5)| Gund Arena| 11–10|- style="background:#bbffbb;"| 22| August 11| @ Utah| W 74–59| Merlakia Jones (19)| Rushia Brown (11)| Michelle Edwards (6)| Delta Center| 12–10|- style="background:#fcc;"| 23| August 12| @ Sacramento| L 76–81| Eva Němcová (16)| Brown
Fijalkowski (9)| Isabelle Fijalkowski (5)| ARCO Arena| 12–11|- style="background:#fcc;"| 24| August 14| @ Phoenix| L 55–61| Merlakia Jones (12)| Brown
Němcová (8)| Michelle Edwards (7)| America West Arena| 12–12|- style="background:#bbffbb;"| 25| August 17| Charlotte| W 81–49| Eva Němcová (21)| Janice Braxton (15)| Braxton
Němcová (4)| Gund Arena| 13–12|- style="background:#bbffbb;"| 26| August 21| @ Houston| W 76–75| Michelle Edwards (15)| Braxton
Woodard (5)| Braxton
Fijalkowski (3)| The Summit| 14–12|- style="background:#bbffbb;"| 27| August 23| New York| W 72–71| Janice Braxton (19)| Janice Braxton (8)| Edwards
Woodard (5)| Gund Arena| 15–12|- style="background:#fcc;"| 28| August 24| @ New York| L 72–79 (OT)| Janice Braxton (15)| Braxton
Fijalkowski (4)| Eva Němcová (4)| Madison Square Garden| 15–13

Season standings

Statistics

Regular Season

Player	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
Eva Němcová	28	28	33.7	.473	.435	.855	3.9	2.4	1.4	0.3	13.7
Janice Braxton	25	24	32.9	.417	.500	.768	7.6	2.0	1.4	1.1	11.5
Michelle Edwards	20	14	31.1	.447	.240	.523	3.5	4.5	1.8	0.2	10.2
Isabelle Fijalkowski	28	28	28.7	.508	.250	.786	5.6	2.4	0.6	0.6	11.9
Lynette Woodard	28	27	25.4	.401	.000	.672	4.1	2.4	1.6	0.4	7.8
Merlakia Jones	28	1	21.0	.402	.417	.714	2.9	0.9	0.8	0.1	8.2
Rushia Brown	28	3	18.3	.520	N/A	.734	4.0	0.7	1.2	0.5	6.3
Tina Nicholson	24	14	11.4	.409	.375	.600	0.4	1.8	0.5	0.0	2.0
Jenny Boucek	10	1	11.2	.467	.000	.571	1.0	0.9	0.6	0.0	1.8
Adrienne Johnson	25	2	7.8	.379	.500	.778	0.9	0.4	0.2	0.0	2.1
Anita Maxwell	9	0	7.0	.320	N/A	.375	1.3	0.9	0.4	0.0	2.1
Marcie Alberts	5	0	6.0	.000	.000	N/A	0.2	0.6	0.4	0.0	0.0

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

Janice Braxton ranked sixth in the WNBA in total rebounds with 189
Janice Braxton tied for fifth in the WNBA in blocks with 28.
Michelle Edwards ranked eighth in the WNBA in assists with 89.
Isabelle Fijalkowski ranked second in the WNBA in Field Goal Percentage (.508)
Isabelle Fijalkowski ranked eighth in the WNBA in Free Throw Pct with .786
Eva Nemcova ranked fourth in the WNBA in Field Goal Percentage (.473)
Eva Nemcova ranked fourth in the WNBA in Free Throw Pct with .855
Eva Nemcova ranked tenth in the WNBA in field goals with 138.
Eva Nemcova ranked eighth in the WNBA in points with 384 points.
Eva Nemcova ranked seventh in the WNBA in minutes per game with 33.7
Eva Nemcova ranked eighth in the WNBA in points per game with 13.7

Awards and honors

Janice Braxton, Ranked second in the WNBA (tied), Defensive Rebounds, 151
Isabelle Fijalkowski: Led WNBA, Personal Fouls, 129
Eva Nemcova: Led WNBA, 3-Pt Field Goal Percentage, .435

External links

Rockers on Basketball Reference

Notes and References

Web site: 1997 Cleveland Rockers Transactions . 2024-05-22 . Basketball-Reference.com . en.
Web site: 1997 WNBA Season Summary.