# 1998 New York Liberty season

The 1998 WNBA season was the second for the New York Liberty. The Liberty finished with an 18–12 mark, but they missed the playoffs after losing a tiebreaker to the Charlotte Sting.

## Transactions
### Detroit Shock expansion draft

The following player was selected in the Detroit Shock expansion draft from the New York Liberty:
| Player | Nationality | School/Team/Country |
| Rhonda Blades | United States | Vanderbilt |

## WNBA draft

| Round | Pick | Player | Nationality | School/Team/Country |
| 1 | 9 | Alicia Thompson | United States | Texas Tech |
| 2 | 19 | Nadine Domond | United States | Iowa |
| 3 | 29 | Albena Branzova | Bulgaria | FIU |
| 4 | 39 | Vanessa Nygaard | United States | Stanford |

## Transactions

| Date | Transaction |
| February 18, 1998 | Lost Rhonda Blades to the Detroit Shock in the WNBA expansion draft |
| April 29, 1998 | Drafted Alicia Thompson, Nadine Domond, Albena Branzova and Vanessa Nygaard in the 1998 WNBA Draft |
| May 18, 1998 | Waived Simone Edwards |
| June 3, 1998 | Waived Cassandra Crumpton-Moorer |
| June 8, 1998 | Waived Nadine Domond |
| July 14, 1998 | Waived Albena Branzova |

## Schedule
### Regular season

1998 game log Total: 17–11 (Home: 10–5; Road: 7–6) :
June: 5–4 (Home: 4–0; Road: 1–4)
GameDateTeamScoreHigh pointsHigh reboundsHigh assistsLocation AttendanceRecord
1
June 11
@ Cleveland
L 71–78
Sophia Witherspoon (19)
Rebecca Lobo (7)
Teresa Weatherspoon (5)
Gund Arena
0–1
2
June 13
@ Houston
L 62–73
Vickie Johnson (18)
Teresa Weatherspoon (6)
Teresa Weatherspoon (7)
Compaq Center
0–2
3
June 15
@ Utah
L 60–71
Vickie Johnson (19)
Hampton Witherspoon (8)
Teresa Weatherspoon (9)
Delta Center
0–3
4
June 18
@ Sacramento
W 64–48
Teresa Weatherspoon (13)
Rebecca Lobo (8)
Teresa Weatherspoon (6)
ARCO Arena
1–3
5
June 19
@ Los Angeles
L 75–78
Sophia Witherspoon (18)
Kym Hampton (9)
Teresa Weatherspoon (5)
Great Western Forum
1–4
6
June 21
Utah
W 68–64
Kym Hampton (22)
Kym Hampton (10)
Teresa Weatherspoon (8)
Madison Square Garden
2–4
7
June 23
Cleveland
W 59–57
Vickie Johnson (27)
Hampton Lobo (8)
Lobo Weatherspoon (5)
Madison Square Garden
3–4
8
June 26
Sacramento
W 62–48
Kym Hampton (13)
Johnson Lobo (7)
Teresa Weatherspoon (4)
Madison Square Garden
4–4
9
June 29
Phoenix
W 71–68
Johnson Witherspoon (23)
Teresa Weatherspoon (10)
Teresa Weatherspoon (8)
Madison Square Garden
5–4 :
July
: 7–5 (Home: 3–2; Road: 4–3)
GameDateTeamScoreHigh pointsHigh reboundsHigh assistsLocation AttendanceRecord
10
July 1
@ Detroit
L 65–82
Sophia Witherspoon (13)
Kym Hampton (8)
Teresa Weatherspoon (6)
The Palace of Auburn Hills
5–5
11
July 3
Washington
W 76–60
Teresa Weatherspoon (14)
Hampton Lobo (6)
Johnson Weatherspoon (6)
Madison Square Garden
6–5
12
July 5
@ Washington
W 62–61
Kym Hampton (17)
Rebecca Lobo (13)
Teresa Weatherspoon (5)
MCI Center
7–5
13
July 6
Detroit
W 59–56
Teresa Weatherspoon (12)
Teresa Weatherspoon (7)
Teresa Weatherspoon (4)
Madison Square Garden
8–5
14
July 8
Houston
L 54–79
Rebecca Lobo (14)
Hampton Lobo (4)
Teresa Weatherspoon (6)
Madison Square Garden
8–6
15
July 12
Charlotte
L 57–75
Kym Hampton (12)
Kym Hampton (9)
Teresa Weatherspoon (5)
Madison Square Garden
8–7
16
July 15
@ Charlotte
L 65–72
Sophia Witherspoon (17)
Kym Hampton (12)
Teresa Weatherspoon (6)
Charlotte Coliseum
8–8
17
July 16
@ Cleveland
L 51–60
Sophia Witherspoon (13)
Kym Hampton (10)
Teresa Weatherspoon (6)
Gund Arena
8–9
18
July 18
@ Phoenix
W 69–63
Sophia Witherspoon (24)
Sophia Witherspoon (6)
Teresa Weatherspoon (5)
America West Arena
9–9
19
July 21
@ Los Angeles
W 92–77
Vickie Johnson (17)
Teresa Weatherspoon (7)
Teresa Weatherspoon (13)
Great Western Forum
10–9
20
July 24
@ Sacramento
W 76–54
Sophia Witherspoon (15)
Rebecca Lobo (8)
Teresa Weatherspoon (10)
ARCO Arena
11–9
21
July 26
Detroit
W 78–62
Sophia Witherspoon (17)
Rebecca Lobo (10)
Teresa Weatherspoon (9)
Madison Square Garden
12–9 :
August
: 5–4 (Home: 4–2; Road: 1–2)
GameDateTeamScoreHigh pointsHigh reboundsHigh assistsLocation AttendanceRecord
22
August 1
@ Washington
W 67–53
Rebecca Lobo (13)
Kym Hampton (8)
Teresa Weatherspoon (6)
MCI Center
13–9
23
August 2
Charlotte
W 85–67
Johnson Witherspoon (18)
Lobo Wicks (6)
Teresa Weatherspoon (5)
Madison Square Garden
14–9
24
August 5
@ Charlotte
L 61–69
Vickie Johnson (21)
Rebecca Lobo (11)
Teresa Weatherspoon (4)
Charlotte Coliseum
14–10
25
August 8
Los Angeles
W 80–62
Rebecca Lobo (22)
Sue Wicks (9)
Coquese Washington (8)
Madison Square Garden
15–10
26
August 11
Phoenix
W 79–78 (OT)
Sophia Witherspoon (17)
Rebecca Lobo (11)
Teresa Weatherspoon (7)
Madison Square Garden
16–10
27
August 13
Washington
W 88–45
Kisha Ford (19)
Rebecca Lobo (9)
Teresa Weatherspoon (7)
Madison Square Garden
17–10
28
August 15
Houston
W 70–54
Sophia Witherspoon (21)
Rebecca Lobo (12)
Teresa Weatherspoon (7)
Madison Square Garden
18–10
29
August 17
Cleveland
L 64–70
Rebecca Lobo (18)
Teresa Weatherspoon (5)
Johnson Washington Weatherspoon (4)
Madison Square Garden
18–11
30
August 19
@ Detroit
L 68–82
Sophia Witherspoon (26)
Teresa Weatherspoon (8)
Teresa Weatherspoon (8)
The Palace of Auburn Hills
18–12 :
1998 season schedule :

### Season standings

| Eastern Conference | W | L | PCT | Conf. | GB |
| Cleveland Rockers $^x$ | 20 | 10 | .667 | 12–4 | – |
| Charlotte Sting $^x$ | 18 | 12 | .600 | 11–5 | 2.0 |
| New York Liberty $^o$ | 18 | 12 | .600 | 8–8 | 2.0 |
| Detroit Shock $^o$ | 17 | 13 | .567 | 8–8 | 3.0 |
| Washington Mystics $^o$ | 3 | 27 | .100 | 1–15 | 17.0 |

## Statistics
### Regular Season

| Player | GP | GS | MPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PPG |
| Teresa Weatherspoon | 30 | 30 | 33.4 | .338 | .327 | .609 | 4.0 | 6.4 | 3.3 | 0.0 | 6.8 |
| Vickie Johnson | 30 | 30 | 30.2 | .446 | .375 | .768 | 3.8 | 2.5 | 1.0 | 0.2 | 12.5 |
| Sophia Witherspoon | 30 | 30 | 29.9 | .401 | .344 | .786 | 3.0 | 1.9 | 1.3 | 0.1 | 13.8 |
| Rebecca Lobo | 30 | 30 | 29.2 | .484 | .308 | .710 | 6.9 | 1.5 | 0.6 | 1.1 | 11.7 |
| Kym Hampton | 30 | 30 | 24.8 | .452 | .000 | .716 | 6.0 | 0.9 | 1.1 | 0.5 | 9.1 |
| Kisha Ford | 30 | 0 | 15.7 | .435 | .182 | .625 | 1.2 | 0.8 | 1.1 | 0.1 | 4.9 |
| Sue Wicks | 30 | 0 | 14.8 | .430 | .000 | .800 | 2.8 | 1.2 | 0.5 | 0.3 | 4.3 |
| Albena Branzova | 11 | 0 | 8.5 | .360 | .500 | .750 | 1.5 | 0.5 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 2.1 |
| Elisabeth Cebrian | 22 | 0 | 8.5 | .429 | N/A | .571 | 1.2 | 0.4 | 0.0 | 0.3 | 1.7 |
| Coquese Washington | 228 | 0 | 8.1 | .294 | .238 | .692 | 0.9 | 1.6 | 0.6 | 0.0 | 1.9 |
| Trena Trice | 10 | 0 | 7.7 | .412 | N/A | .636 | 1.8 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.3 | 2.1 |
| Alicia Thompson | 19 | 0 | 6.6 | .231 | 1.000 | .632 | 1.3 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 1.6 |
$^‡$Waived/Released during the season $^†$Traded during the season $^≠$Acquired during the season
* 1 2 3 4 5 6 "1998 New York Liberty Transactions". Basketball-Reference.com. Retrieved June 2, 2024.