1997 WNBA Playoffs
The 1997 WNBA Playoffs was the postseason for the Women's National Basketball Association's 1997 season which ended with the Houston Comets beating the New York Liberty, 1-0 (65-51). Cynthia Cooper was named the MVP of the Finals. This was the first year of WNBA playoffs. Road to the playoffs Eastern Conference Western Conference Note:Teams with an "X" clinched playoff spots. Playoffs Semifinals Charlotte Sting vs. Houston Comets New York Liberty vs. Phoenix Mercury WNBA Championship References {{WNBA Playoffs Playoffs The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eit ... Women's National Basketball Association Playoffs ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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The Summit (Houston)
The Lakewood Church Central Campus is the main facility of Lakewood Church, a megachurch in Houston, Texas, five miles southwest of Downtown Houston and next to Greenway Plaza. From 1975 to 2003 the building served as a multi-purpose sports arena for professional teams, notably the NBA's Houston Rockets. It was known as The Summit until 1998, when technology firm Compaq bought naming rights and dubbed it Compaq Center. That name was dropped when Toyota Center opened as a new and more advanced professional sports venue in the same city, and the building was leased to Lakewood Church. Seven years later, in 2010, the church bought the building outright. Construction of The Summit In 1971, the National Basketball Association's San Diego Rockets were purchased by new ownership group Texas Sports Investments, who moved the franchise to Houston. The city, however, lacked an indoor arena suitable to host a major sports franchise. The largest arena in the city at the time was 34-year ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Violet Palmer
Violet Renice Palmer (born July 20, 1964) is a retired American basketball referee in the NBA and WNBA and the first female official to reach the highest competitive tier in any major U.S. professional sports league. She also earned recognition as a member of two NCAA Division II women's championship basketball teams. Palmer was the first woman to officiate an NBA playoff game when she did so in the April 25, 2006 match between the Indiana Pacers and New Jersey Nets. In the NBA, Palmer wore uniform number 12. She retired in 2016. Biography A native of Compton, California, Palmer grew up in the same neighborhood where Serena and Venus Williams lived as small children. She attended college at Cal Poly Pomona, where she played point guard on the 1985 and 1986 NCAA Division II women's championship teams. In 2001, Palmer established Violet Palmer's Official Camp to train youths in the art of officiating games. The camp runs annually from July 9 to July 11. In 2010, Palmer was part ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Phoenix, Arizona
Phoenix ( ; nv, Hoozdo; es, Fénix or , yuf-x-wal, Banyà:nyuwá) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona, with 1,608,139 residents as of 2020. It is the fifth-most populous city in the United States, and the only U.S. state capital with a population of more than one million residents. Phoenix is the anchor of the Phoenix metropolitan area, also known as the Valley of the Sun, which in turn is part of the Salt River Valley. The metropolitan area is the 11th largest by population in the United States, with approximately 4.85 million people . Phoenix, the seat of Maricopa County, has the largest area of all cities in Arizona, with an area of , and is also the 11th largest city by area in the United States. It is the largest metropolitan area, both by population and size, of the Arizona Sun Corridor megaregion. Phoenix was settled in 1867 as an agricultural community near the confluence of the Salt and Gila Rivers and was incorporated as ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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America West Arena
Footprint Center (formerly known as America West Arena, US Airways Center, Talking Stick Resort Arena and Phoenix Suns Arena) is a multi-purpose arena in Phoenix, Arizona. Built in the regional population center of the southwestern United States, the arena opened on June 6, 1992, at a construction cost of $89 million. It is currently the home arena for the Phoenix Suns of the National Basketball Association (NBA), the Phoenix Mercury of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) and the Indoor Football League's Arizona Rattlers. The ECHL's Phoenix RoadRunners also played there from 2005 until they ceased operations at the conclusion of the 2008–2009 season. Additionally, the National Hockey League (NHL)'s Phoenix Coyotes (now the Arizona Coyotes) played their first 7-plus seasons at the arena following their arrival in Phoenix on July 1, 1996. Located one block away from Chase Field, home of the Arizona Diamondbacks, the arena is in size on an site. These two ma ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Bridget Pettis
Bridget Pettis (born January 1, 1971) was an Assistant Coach of the Chicago Sky Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) professional basketball team. She is an American former college and professional basketball player who was a guard in the WNBA for eight seasons during the 1990s and 2000s. Pettis played college basketball for the University of Florida, and professionally for the Phoenix Mercury and the Indiana Fever of the WNBA. Early years Pettis was born in East Chicago, Indiana. She attended East Chicago Central High School, and played high school basketball for the EC Central Cardinals. College career Pettis attended Central Arizona College in Coolidge, Arizona, and played junior college basketball for the Central Arizona Vaqueras. She accepted an athletic scholarship to transfer to the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida, where she played for coach Carol Ross's Florida Gators women's basketball team from 1991 to 1993. Memorably, she completed eight ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Umeki Webb
Umeki Webb (born June 26, 1975) is a former professional basketball player in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) for three seasons, playing two for the Phoenix Mercury and one for the Miami Sol. WNBA Career Webb was selected in the 3rd round (24th overall pick) by the Phoenix Mercury in the 1997 WNBA Draft. Her debut game was played on June 22, 1997 in a 76 - 59 win over the Charlotte Sting where she recorded 9 points, 5 assists, 2 rebounds and 2 steals. Webb averaged a hefty 27.7 minutes a game in her rookie season, along with 5 points, 4.2 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 2.4 steals. The Mercury finished the season 16 - 12 and made the playoffs but were eliminated in the semi-finals by the New York Liberty. In the 1998 season, Webb averaged more minutes, more points and more assists than her rookie season, but averaged less rebounds and steals (28.2 mpg, 5.3 ppg, 3.9 apg, 3.9 rpg and 1.6 spg). The Mercury finished with an even better record of 19 - 11 and made it all ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Marlies Askamp
Marlies Askamp (born August 7, 1970 in Dorsten, Recklinghausen, North Rhine-Westphalia) is a German professional basketball player. She was one of the original players to play in the U.S. Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). Personal As a youth, Askamp played basketball and competed in track until at age 16. She speaks German, English, and French. Career highlights *Played in the 1998 FIBA Women's Championship with the German National Team *All-time leader in offensive rebounds (137) and total rebounds (329) for the now-defunct Miami Sol Career statistics Regular season , - , style="text-align:left;", 1997 , style="text-align:left;", Phoenix , 28 , , 1 , , 18.5 , , .393 , , .000 , , .763 , , 5.2 , , 0.8 , , 0.8 , , 0.3 , , 1.6 , , 7.5 , - , style="text-align:left;", 1998 , style="text-align:left;", Phoenix , 26 , , 0 , , 12.3 , , .471 , , .000 , , .661 , , 3.3 , , 0.5 , , 0.5 , , 0.3 , , 0.9 , , 5.3 , - , style="text-align:left;", ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Jennifer Gillom
Jennifer "Grandmama" Gillom (born June 13, 1964) is an American former Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) basketball player who played for the Phoenix Mercury from 1997 to 2002, before finishing her playing career with the Los Angeles Sparks in 2003. Gillom is also a former Sparks head coach, also coached the Minnesota Lynx, and was, until 2015, an assistant coach of the Connecticut Sun. Born in Abbeville, Mississippi, Gillom played college basketball at the University of Mississippi and helped the United States Basketball Team to a gold medal in women's basketball in the 1988 Summer Olympics. Gillom signed with the Mercury in 1996 where she was All-WNBA in 1998 and won the Kim Perrot Sportsmanship Award in her final season. Gillom is the head coach of the Xavier College Preparatory High School basketball team in Phoenix, Arizona in 2004. Starting in the 2008 season, Gillom served as an assistant coach for the Minnesota Lynx. In June 2009, she was named head coach of ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Teresa Weatherspoon
Teresa Gaye Weatherspoon (born December 8, 1965) is an American professional basketball coach and former player who serves as assistant coach for the New Orleans Pelicans of the National Basketball Association (NBA). She played for the New York Liberty and Los Angeles Sparks of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) and served as the head basketball coach of the Louisiana Tech Lady Techsters. Weatherspoon was inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in 2010, and the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2019. In 2011, she was voted in by fans as one of the Top 15 players in WNBA history. In 2016, Weatherspoon was chosen to the WNBA Top 20@20, a list of the league's best 20 players ever in celebration of the WNBA's twentieth anniversary. Playing and coaching career Born in Pineland, Texas, Weatherspoon was a health and physical education major and star basketball player at Louisiana Tech. In 1988, her senior season, she led the Lady Techsters to the N ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Kym Hampton
Kym Hampton (born November 3, 1962) is a retired professional basketball player. A 6'2" center, Hampton was drafted as the number four pick in the 1997 WNBA Elite draft and played three seasons for the New York Liberty (1997–1999). Following a 12-year professional stint in Europe along with her three years in the WNBA, Hampton retired from basketball in 2000, due to worn cartilage in her right knee. Early life Born and raised in Louisville, Kentucky, Hampton is one of seven children born to Donald and Joyce Hampton. Hampton attributes her athletic ability to her father's side of the family and her uncle, Charlie Hampton, was a Central High School standout. Both Kym Hampton and Charlie Hampton played on the Kentucky All-Star team. High school Hampton attended Iroquois High School in Louisville, Kentucky. She joined the basketball team during her freshman year in 1976, at the urging of the head coach Marshall Abstain. Hampton ultimately scored 1,198 career points, averaging ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Rebecca Lobo
Rebecca Rose Lobo-Rushin (born October 6, 1973) is an American television basketball analyst and former women's basketball player in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) from 1997 to 2003. Lobo, at 6'4", played the center position for much of her career. Lobo played college basketball at the University of Connecticut, where she was a member of the team that won the 1995 national championship, going 35–0 on the season in the process. Lobo was inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in 2010. In April 2017, she was announced as one of the members of the 2017 class of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, alongside Tracy McGrady and Muffet McGraw. Early life and high school career Lobo was born in Hartford, Connecticut, the youngest daughter of RuthAnn (née McLaughlin) and Dennis Joseph Lobo. Her father is of Cuban descent, while her mother was of German and Irish heritage. Lobo was raised a Catholic. Her brother Jason played basketball at Da ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |