# 1997 Cleveland Rockers season

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

## Transactions
### WNBA allocation draft

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

### WNBA elite draft

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

### WNBA draft

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

### Transactions

| Date | Transaction |
| January 22, 1997 | Drafted Janice Braxton and Michelle Edwards in the 1997 WNBA Allocation Draft |
| 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

1997 game log Total: 15–13 (Home: 10–5; Road: 7–9) :
June: 1–3 (Home: 1–2; Road: 0–1)
GameDateTeamScoreHigh pointsHigh reboundsHigh assistsLocation AttendanceRecord
1
June 21
Houston
L 56–76
Isabelle Fijalkowski (12)
Lynette Woodard (7)
Braxton Edwards Nicholson Němcová (2)
Gund Arena
0–1
2
June 26
Utah
W 74–63
Isabelle Fijalkowski (21)
Janice Braxton (14)
Michelle Edwards (8)
Gund Arena
1–1
3
June 28
Phoenix
L 63–68
Michelle Edwards (14)
Janice Braxton (12)
Fijalkowski Němcová (5)
Gund Arena
1–2
4
June 29
@ Charlotte
W 67–44
Isabelle Fijalkowski (15)
Isabelle Fijalkowski (9)
Braxton Boucek Woodard (3)
Charlotte Coliseum
1–3 :
July
: 9–5 (Home: 4–2; Road: 5–3)
GameDateTeamScoreHigh pointsHigh reboundsHigh assistsLocation AttendanceRecord
5
July 3
Los Angeles
L 62–74
Janice Braxton (15)
Janice Braxton (10)
Boucek Němcová (3)
Gund Arena
1–4
6
July 6
@ Sacramento
L 67–70
Merlakia Jones (15)
Isabelle Fijalkowski (9)
Tina Nicholson (5)
ARCO Arena
1–5
7
July 7
@ Los Angeles
W 81–70
Braxton Woodard (20)
Lynette Woodard (11)
Lynette Woodard (6)
Great Western Forum
2–5
8
July 10
Sacramento
W 77–61
Janice Braxton (19)
Janice Braxton (11)
Isabelle Fijalkowski (4)
Gund Arena
3–5
9
July 12
@ Charlotte
L 43–72
Eva Němcová (11)
Braxton Brown (8)
Němcová Woodard (3)
Charlotte Coliseum
3–6
10
July 14
New York
L 57–68
Janice Braxton (18)
Isabelle Fijalkowski (5)
Tina Nicholson (9)
Gund Arena
3–7
11
July 15
@ New York
L 59–76
Lynette Woodard (12)
Eva Němcová (7)
Fijalkowski Woodard (3)
Madison Square Garden
3–8
12
July 17
Charlotte
W 65–47
Němcová Woodard (14)
Isabelle Fijalkowski (11)
Isabelle Fijalkowski (6)
Gund Arena
4–8
13
July 19
Utah
W 95–68
Janice Braxton (19)
Lynette Woodard (11)
Nicholson Woodard (6)
Gund Arena
5–8
14
July 23
@ Los Angeles
W 89–85
Isabelle Fijalkowski (24)
Janice Braxton (6)
Michelle Edwards (6)
Great Western Forum
6–8
15
July 26
@ Utah
W 77–66
Rushia Brown (17)
Isabelle Fijalkowski (10)
Eva Němcová (4)
Delta Center
7–8
16
July 28
@ Phoenix
W 76–64
Eva Němcová (22)
Janice Braxton (10)
Edwards Fijalkowski (5)
America West Arena
8–8
17
July 29
@ Houston
W 73–64
Eva Němcová (18)
Janice Braxton (7)
Edwards Fijalkowski (5)
The Summit
9–8
18
July 31
Phoenix
W 79–67
Eva Němcová (17)
Edwards Woodard (5)
Michelle Edwards (6)
Gund Arena
10–8 :
August
: 7–6 (Home: 5–1; Road: 2–5)
GameDateTeamScoreHigh pointsHigh reboundsHigh assistsLocation AttendanceRecord
19
August 2
Sacramento
W 72–51
Isabelle Fijalkowski (22)
Edwards Fijalkowski (9)
Michelle Edwards (7)
Gund Arena
11–8
20
August 5
Houston
L 66–76
Michelle Edwards (17)
Janice Braxton (6)
Michelle Edwards (7)
Gund Arena
11–9
21
August 7
Los Angeles
L 84–87 (2OT)
Eva Němcová (22)
Isabelle Fijalkowski (10)
Edwards Woodard (5)
Gund Arena
11–10
22
August 11
@ Utah
W 74–59
Merlakia Jones (19)
Rushia Brown (11)
Michelle Edwards (6)
Delta Center
12–10
23
August 12
@ Sacramento
L 76–81
Eva Němcová (16)
Brown Fijalkowski (9)
Isabelle Fijalkowski (5)
ARCO Arena
12–11
24
August 14
@ Phoenix
L 55–61
Merlakia Jones (12)
Brown Němcová (8)
Michelle Edwards (7)
America West Arena
12–12
25
August 17
Charlotte
W 81–49
Eva Němcová (21)
Janice Braxton (15)
Braxton Němcová (4)
Gund Arena
13–12
26
August 21
@ Houston
W 76–75
Michelle Edwards (15)
Braxton Woodard (5)
Braxton Fijalkowski (3)
The Summit
14–12
27
August 23
New York
W 72–71
Janice Braxton (19)
Janice Braxton (8)
Edwards Woodard (5)
Gund Arena
15–12
28
August 24
@ New York
L 72–79 (OT)
Janice Braxton (15)
Braxton Fijalkowski (4)
Eva Němcová (4)
Madison Square Garden
15–13 :
1997 season 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
### 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