1997 Houston Comets season explained

The 1997 WNBA season was the first season for the Houston Comets. The Comets won the inaugural WNBA Finals.

Transactions

WNBA allocation draft

Player	Nationality	School/Team/Country
Cynthia Cooper		USC
Sheryl Swoopes		Texas Tech

WNBA elite draft

Round	Pick	Player	Nationality	School/Team/Country
1	5	Wanda Guyton		South Florida
2	13	Janeth Arcain		Brazil

WNBA draft

Round	Pick	Player	School/Team/Country
1	1	Tina Thompson	USC
2	16	Tammy Jackson	Florida
3	17	Racquel Spurlock	Louisiana Tech
4	32	Catarina Pollini	Texas

Transactions

Date	Transaction
January 22, 1997	Drafted Cynthia Cooper and Sheryl Swoopes in the 1997 WNBA Allocation Draft^[1]
February 27, 1997	Drafted Wanda Guyton and Janeth Arcain in the 1997 WNBA Elite Draft
April 28, 1997	Drafted Tina Thompson, Tammy Jackson, Racquel Spurlock and Catarina Pollini in the 1997 WNBA Draft
April 28, 1997	Hired Van Chancellor as Head Coach

Schedule

Regular season

|- style="background:#bbffbb;"| 1| June 21| @ Cleveland| W 76–56| Cynthia Cooper (25)| Cynthia Cooper (8)| Cynthia Cooper (2)| Gund Arena| 1–0|- style="background:#bbffbb;"| 2| June 24| Phoenix| W 72–55| Janeth Arcain (23)| Janeth Arcain (8)| Cynthia Cooper (3)| The Summit| 2–0|- style="background:#fcc;"| 3| June 26| New York| L 60–62 (OT)| Cynthia Cooper (20)| Wanda Guyton (9)| Cynthia Cooper (3)| The Summit| 2–1|- style="background:#bbffbb;"| 4| June 28| @ Utah| W 76–58| Cynthia Cooper (20)| Wanda Guyton (9)| Cynthia Cooper (3)| Delta Center| 3–1|- style="background:#bbffbb;"| 5| June 30| Los Angeles| W 71–66 (OT)| Janeth Arcain (17)| Tammy Jackson (8)| Cynthia Cooper (5)| The Summit| 4–1|- style="background:#fcc;"| 6| July 2| @ New York| L 67–72| Cynthia Cooper (19)| Wanda Guyton (8)| Cynthia Cooper (6)| Madison Square Garden| 4–2|- style="background:#fcc;"| 7| July 4| New York| L 58–65| Tina Thompson (15)| Arcain
Harris (7)| Cynthia Cooper (8)| The Summit| 4–3|- style="background:#bbffbb;"| 8| July 7| Charlotte| W 74–56| Cynthia Cooper (21)| Tina Thompson (9)| Cynthia Cooper (6)| The Summit| 5–3|- style="background:#fcc;"| 9| July 9| @ Phoenix| L 64–69| Cynthia Cooper (16)| Tina Thompson (7)| Kim Perrot (4)| America West Arena| 5–4|- style="background:#bbffbb;"| 10| July 12| Sacramento| W 89–61| Cynthia Cooper (20)| Tina Thompson (10)| Cynthia Cooper (8)| The Summit| 6–4|- style="background:#bbffbb;"| 11| July 14| Utah| W 79–56| Arcain
Guyton (17)| Fran Harris (8)| Kim Perrot (4)| The Summit| 7–4|- style="background:#fcc;"| 12| July 16| @ Los Angeles| L 52–77| Cooper
Thompson (17)| Janeth Arcain (8)| Arcain
Cooper (3)| Great Western Forum| 7–5|- style="background:#bbffbb;"| 13| July 18| @ Sacramento| W 82–60| Cynthia Cooper (19)| Tammy Jackson (12)| Kim Perrot (7)| ARCO Arena| 8–5|- style="background:#bbffbb;"| 14| July 23| @ Phoenix| W 77–69| Cynthia Cooper (32)| Janeth Arcain (7)| Cynthia Cooper (6)| America West Arena| 9–5|- style="background:#bbffbb;"| 15| July 25| @ Sacramento| W 86–76| Cynthia Cooper (44)| Wanda Guyton (7)| Janeth Arcain (5)| ARCO Arena| 10–5|- style="background:#fcc;"| 16| July 29| Cleveland| L 64–73| Tina Thompson (24)| Tina Thompson (9)| Cynthia Cooper (5)| The Summit| 10–6 ||- style="background:#bbffbb;"| 17| August 1| @ Los Angeles| W 81–57| Cynthia Cooper (34)| Tina Thompson (9)| Cynthia Cooper (5)| Great Western Forum| 11–6 |- style="background:#fcc;"| 18| August 2| @ Utah| L 63–74| Tina Thompson (20)| Tammy Jackson (6)| Cooper
Thompson (5)| Delta Center| 11–7 |- style="background:#bbffbb;"| 19| August 5| @ Cleveland| W 76–66| Cynthia Cooper (30)| Janeth Arcain (8)| Cynthia Cooper (6)| Gund Arena| 12–7 |- style="background:#bbffbb;"| 20| August 7| Phoenix| W 74–70| Cynthia Cooper (34)| Tina Thompson (10)| Kim Perrot (6)| The Summit| 13–7 |- style="background:#bbffbb;"| 21| August 9| Los Angeles| W 72–71 (2OT)| Kim Perrot (19)| Tina Thompson (10)| Cynthia Cooper (8)| The Summit| 14–7|- style="background:#bbffbb;"| 22| August 11| @ Charlotte| W 72–62| Cynthia Cooper (39)| Tammy Jackson (7)| Kim Perrot (7)| Charlotte Coliseum| 15–7|- style="background:#bbffbb;"| 23| August 12| Utah| W 76–56| Cynthia Cooper (21)| Guyton
Thompson (7)| Kim Perrot (5)| The Summit| 16–7|- style="background:#fcc;"| 24| August 16| @ Charlotte| L 71–80| Sheryl Swoopes (20)| Tina Thompson (6)| Kim Perrot (7)| Charlotte Coliseum| 16–8|- style="background:#bbffbb;"| 25| August 17| @ New York| W 70–55| Cynthia Cooper (17)| Jackson | Thompson (12)| Kim Perrot (6)| Madison Square Garden| 17–8|- style="background:#bbffbb;"| 26| August 19| Charlotte| W 77–69| Cynthia Cooper (31)| Wanda Guyton (10)| Cooper
Thompson (4)| The Summit| 18–8|- style="background:#fcc;"| 27| August 21| Cleveland| L 75–76| Kim Perrot (18)| Wanda Guyton (10)| Cynthia Cooper (9)| The Summit| 18–9|- style="background:#fcc;"| 28| August 24| Sacramento| L 58–68| Cynthia Cooper (16)| Tina Thompson (9)| Cynthia Cooper (5)| The Summit| 18–10

Playoffs

Season standings

Statistics

Regular Season

Player	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
Cynthia Cooper	28	28	35.1	.470	.414	.864	4.0	4.7	2.1	0.2	22.2
Tina Thompson	28	28	31.6	.418	.370	.838	6.6	1.1	0.8	2.2	13.2
Janeth Arcain	28	27	28.0	.440	.273	.894	3.9	1.6	1.5	2.4	10.9
Wanda Guyton	25	25	26.7	.467	N/A	.559	5.4	0.5	1.0	1.7	6.1
Kim Perrot	28	24	24.7	.364	.283	.405	2.7	3.1	2.5	2.3	5.8
Tammy Jackson	28	3	19.5	.409	.000	.610	4.1	0.4	1.6	1.8	4.1
Tiffany Woosley	26	4	15.3	.330	.320	.250	1.1	1.1	0.7	1.2	2.9
Fran Harris	25	1	14.8	.346	.333	.710	2.2	1.0	0.7	1.2	4.2
Sheryl Swoopes	9	0	14.3	.472	.250	.714	1.7	0.8	0.8	0.4	7.1
Yolanda Moore	13	0	7.2	.250	N/A	.500	1.0	0.1	0.1	0.5	1.2
Catarina Pollini	13	0	7.2	.364	N/A	.500	0.9	0.4	0.3	0.7	1.7
Pietra Gay	5	0	2.4	.500	N/A	.400	0.6	0.4	0.2	0.8	0.8

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

Janeth Arcain ranked second in the WNBA in Free Throw Pct with .894
Cynthia Cooper ranked fifth in the WNBA in assists with 131.
Cynthia Cooper ranked sixth in the WNBA in Field Goal Percentage (.470)
Cynthia Cooper ranked third in the WNBA in Free Throw Pct with .864
Cynthia Cooper ranked first in the WNBA in field goals with 191.
Cynthia Cooper ranked first in the WNBA in points with 621.
Cynthia Cooper ranked fifth in the WNBA in minutes per game with 35.1
Cynthia Cooper ranked fifth in the WNBA in steals with 59.
Kim Perrot ranked ninth in the WNBA in assists with 88.
Kim Perrot ranked third in the WNBA in steals with 69.
Tina Thompson ranked ninth in the WNBA in points with 370 points.-
Tina Thompson ranked seventh in the WNBA in total rebounds with 184
Tina Thompson ranked ninth in the WNBA in points per game with 13.2
Tina Thompson ranked seventh in the WNBA in Free Throw Pct with .838
Tina Thompson tied for fifth in the WNBA in blocks with 28.

Awards and honors

Cynthia Cooper, WNBA Most Valuable Player Award
Cynthia Cooper, WNBA Finals MVP Award
Cynthia Cooper, Guard, All-WNBA First Team
Cynthia Cooper: Led WNBA, Field Goals 191^[2]
Cynthia Cooper: Led WNBA, 3-Pt Field Goals, 67^[2]
Cynthia Cooper: Led WNBA, Free Throws, 172^[2]
Cynthia Cooper: Led WNBA, Free Throw Attempts, 199^[2]
Cynthia Cooper: Led WNBA, Points, 621 ^[2]
Cynthia Cooper: Led WNBA, Points per game, 22.2 ^[2]
Cynthia Cooper: Ranked third in the WNBA in minutes played, 982
Wanda Guyton: Second in WNBA (tied), Offensive Rebounds, 76 ^[2]
Tina Thompson, Forward, All-WNBA First Team
Van Chancellor, Coach of the Year ^[3]

External links

Comets on Basketball Reference

Notes and References

Web site: 1997 Houston Comets Transactions . 2024-05-23 . Basketball-Reference.com . en.
Web site: 1997 WNBA Season Summary.
Web site: Postseason Awards: 1997 . WNBA.com . 2022-09-04.