The Miami Sol were a professional women's

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

team that was based in

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at th ...

and entered the

Women's National Basketball Association The Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) is an American professional basketball league. It is composed of twelve teams, all based in the United States. The league was founded on April 22, 1996, as the women's counterpart to the Natio ...

(WNBA) in 2000. They played their games at

American Airlines Arena FTX Arena (known as American Airlines Arena from 1999 to 2021) is a multi-purpose arena located in Miami, Florida, along Biscayne Bay. It was constructed beginning in 1998 as a replacement for the Miami Arena and designed by the architecture ...

as the sister team to the

Miami Heat The Miami Heat are an American professional basketball team based in Miami. The Heat compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Southeast Division. The club plays its home games at FT ...

of the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball sports league, league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues i ...

(NBA). The team folded after the 2002 season because of financial problems.

History

The city of

was granted one of the first four

expansion team An expansion team is a new team in a sports league, usually from a city that has not hosted a team in that league before, formed with the intention of satisfying the demand for a local team from a population in a new area. Sporting leagues also ...

s of the WNBA in June 1999 along with Indianapolis,

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a port, seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the county seat, seat of King County, Washington, King County, Washington (state), Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in bo ...

, and

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: * Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States * Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...

. In their short history, the Miami Sol was coached for three seasons by Ron Rothstein. For their inaugural 2000 season, the Sol finished in sixth place in the Eastern Conference with an overall record of 13–19. Players such as Debbie Black, Elena Baranova, Sandy Brondello,

Ruth Riley Ruth Ellen Riley Hunter (born August 28, 1979) is a retired American professional basketball player (a center), playing most recently for the Atlanta Dream in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). Her Notre Dame team won the NCAA ...

, and Sheri Sam led them to a 20–12 record and a trip to the playoffs in 2001, but lost in the first round to the

New York Liberty The New York Liberty are an American professional basketball team based in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The Liberty compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as part of the league's Eastern Conference. The team was ...

in three games, the only playoff appearance in franchise history. After losing to the

in the playoffs, the Miami Sol finished the 2002 season with a 15–17 record. That season proved to be the Sol's last. Citing the inability to raise enough funds to continue operation under the WNBA's new restructuring agreement, the organization ceased operations in November 2000. The team formally folded in January 2003 after the WNBA announced players from both the Sol and Portland Fire would be placed in a spring dispersal draft. The team finished with a .500 franchise record of 48 wins and 48 losses. The other Florida team, the

Orlando Miracle The Orlando Miracle were a Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) team based in Orlando, Florida. It began play in the 1999 WNBA season. The Miracle relocated, in 2003, to Uncasville, Connecticut, where the team became the Connecticut ...

, ceased operations after the 2002 season and was relocated to Connecticut as the

Connecticut Sun The Connecticut Sun are an American professional basketball team based in Uncasville, Connecticut that competes in the Eastern Conference (WNBA), Eastern Conference of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). The team was established ...

, adopting a nickname and logo very similar to the Miami Sol. After the team's folding, its players found success elsewhere in the league. After being reassigned to the

Detroit Shock The Detroit Shock were a Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) team based in Auburn Hills, Michigan. They were the 2003, 2006, and 2008 WNBA champions. Debuting in 1998, the Shock were one of the league's first expansion franchises. T ...

won two WNBA championships in 2003 and 2006. Betty Lennox and Sandy Brondello won a WNBA championship with the

Seattle Storm The Seattle Storm are an American professional basketball team based in Seattle. The Storm competes in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member club of the league's Western Conference. The team was founded by Ginger Ackerl ...

in 2004, with Lennox winning the WNBA Finals Most Valuable Player award.

Uniforms

The Sol's road uniforms were fiery red, with the team name emblazoned in white on the chest and a WNBA ball in place of the hole in the letter "O". The home jerseys featured the same design, only with the colors inverted.

Name

The team's nickname, Sol, is Spanish and Portuguese for "sun" and was unveiled on January 7, 2000. The name played off the Miami area's large Hispanic population and its "brother" NBA team, the

Season-by-season records

Notable players

* Marlies Askamp * Elena Baranova * Sandy Brondello * Katrina Colleton * Debbie Black * Milena Flores *

Pollyanna Johns-Kimbrough Pollyanna Casanga Johns Kimbrough, formerly Pollyanna Johns (born November 6, 1975) is an American former basketball player. She was born in Nassau, Bahamas, grew up in Jamaica and moved to the United States at age 13. She played for six seasons ...

* Betty Lennox *

Carolyn Moos Carolyn Moos (; born May 23, 1978) is an American former collegiate and professional basketball player. Moos won a gold medal playing for the United States in the Junior Olympics traveling to Frankfurt, Slovakia, Brazil and Chetumal. She lived in ...

* Vanessa Nygaard * Kristen Rasmussen *

* Sheri Sam * Iziane Castro Marques

Coaches and others

Head Coaches: * Ron Rothstein (2000–02) General Managers: *Ron Rothstein (2000–02) Assistant Coaches *

Tony Fiorentino Tony Fiorentino (born 1949) is an American television color commentator, most recently for the Miami Heat.Jenny Boucek (2000–02) TV Production *

Marc Brody Marc or MARC may refer to: People * Marc (given name), people with the first name * Marc (surname), people with the family name Acronyms * MARC standards, a data format used for library cataloging, * MARC Train, a regional commuter rail system of ...

(2000–02)

References

{{Women's National Basketball Association * Defunct Women's National Basketball Association teams Basketball teams established in 2000 Basketball teams disestablished in 2002 Basketball teams in Miami 2000 establishments in Florida 2002 disestablishments in Florida Basketball teams in Florida