# 1997 Houston Comets season

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 | United States | USC |
| Sheryl Swoopes | United States | Texas Tech |

### WNBA elite draft

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

### WNBA draft

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

### Transactions

| Date | Transaction |
| January 22, 1997 | Drafted Cynthia Cooper and Sheryl Swoopes in the 1997 WNBA Allocation Draft |
| 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

1997 game log Total: 18–10 (Home: 9–5; Road: 9–5) :
June: 4–1 (Home: 2–1; Road: 2–0)
GameDateTeamScoreHigh pointsHigh reboundsHigh assistsLocation AttendanceRecord
1
June 21
@ Cleveland
W 76–56
Cynthia Cooper (25)
Cynthia Cooper (8)
Cynthia Cooper (2)
Gund Arena
1–0
2
June 24
Phoenix
W 72–55
Janeth Arcain (23)
Janeth Arcain (8)
Cynthia Cooper (3)
The Summit
2–0
3
June 26
New York
L 60–62 (OT)
Cynthia Cooper (20)
Wanda Guyton (9)
Cynthia Cooper (3)
The Summit
2–1
4
June 28
@ Utah
W 76–58
Cynthia Cooper (20)
Wanda Guyton (9)
Cynthia Cooper (3)
Delta Center
3–1
5
June 30
Los Angeles
W 71–66 (OT)
Janeth Arcain (17)
Tammy Jackson (8)
Cynthia Cooper (5)
The Summit
4–1 :
July
: 6–5 (Home: 3–2; Road: 3–3)
GameDateTeamScoreHigh pointsHigh reboundsHigh assistsLocation AttendanceRecord
6
July 2
@ New York
L 67–72
Cynthia Cooper (19)
Wanda Guyton (8)
Cynthia Cooper (6)
Madison Square Garden
4–2
7
July 4
New York
L 58–65
Tina Thompson (15)
Arcain Harris (7)
Cynthia Cooper (8)
The Summit
4–3
8
July 7
Charlotte
W 74–56
Cynthia Cooper (21)
Tina Thompson (9)
Cynthia Cooper (6)
The Summit
5–3
9
July 9
@ Phoenix
L 64–69
Cynthia Cooper (16)
Tina Thompson (7)
Kim Perrot (4)
America West Arena
5–4
10
July 12
Sacramento
W 89–61
Cynthia Cooper (20)
Tina Thompson (10)
Cynthia Cooper (8)
The Summit
6–4
11
July 14
Utah
W 79–56
Arcain Guyton (17)
Fran Harris (8)
Kim Perrot (4)
The Summit
7–4
12
July 16
@ Los Angeles
L 52–77
Cooper Thompson (17)
Janeth Arcain (8)
Arcain Cooper (3)
Great Western Forum
7–5
13
July 18
@ Sacramento
W 82–60
Cynthia Cooper (19)
Tammy Jackson (12)
Kim Perrot (7)
ARCO Arena
8–5
14
July 23
@ Phoenix
W 77–69
Cynthia Cooper (32)
Janeth Arcain (7)
Cynthia Cooper (6)
America West Arena
9–5
15
July 25
@ Sacramento
W 86–76
Cynthia Cooper (44)
Wanda Guyton (7)
Janeth Arcain (5)
ARCO Arena
10–5
16
July 29
Cleveland
L 64–73
Tina Thompson (24)
Tina Thompson (9)
Cynthia Cooper (5)
The Summit
10–6 :
August
: 8–4 (Home: 4–2; Road: 4–2)
GameDateTeamScoreHigh pointsHigh reboundsHigh assistsLocation AttendanceRecord
17
August 1
@ Los Angeles
W 81–57
Cynthia Cooper (34)
Tina Thompson (9)
Cynthia Cooper (5)
Great Western Forum
11–6
18
August 2
@ Utah
L 63–74
Tina Thompson (20)
Tammy Jackson (6)
Cooper Thompson (5)
Delta Center
11–7
19
August 5
@ Cleveland
W 76–66
Cynthia Cooper (30)
Janeth Arcain (8)
Cynthia Cooper (6)
Gund Arena
12–7
20
August 7
Phoenix
W 74–70
Cynthia Cooper (34)
Tina Thompson (10)
Kim Perrot (6)
The Summit
13–7
21
August 9
Los Angeles
W 72–71 (2OT)
Kim Perrot (19)
Tina Thompson (10)
Cynthia Cooper (8)
The Summit
14–7
22
August 11
@ Charlotte
W 72–62
Cynthia Cooper (39)
Tammy Jackson (7)
Kim Perrot (7)
Charlotte Coliseum
15–7
23
August 12
Utah
W 76–56
Cynthia Cooper (21)
Guyton Thompson (7)
Kim Perrot (5)
The Summit
16–7
24
August 16
@ Charlotte
L 71–80
Sheryl Swoopes (20)
Tina Thompson (6)
Kim Perrot (7)
Charlotte Coliseum
16–8
25
August 17
@ New York
W 70–55
Cynthia Cooper (17)
Jackson | Thompson (12)
Kim Perrot (6)
Madison Square Garden
17–8
26
August 19
Charlotte
W 77–69
Cynthia Cooper (31)
Wanda Guyton (10)
Cooper Thompson (4)
The Summit
18–8
27
August 21
Cleveland
L 75–76
Kim Perrot (18)
Wanda Guyton (10)
Cynthia Cooper (9)
The Summit
18–9
28
August 24
Sacramento
L 58–68
Cynthia Cooper (16)
Tina Thompson (9)
Cynthia Cooper (5)
The Summit
18–10 :
1997 season schedule :

### Playoffs

1997 playoff game log :
Semifinal vs. Charlotte Sting
GameDateTeamScoreHigh pointsHigh reboundsHigh assistsLocation AttendanceSeries
1
August 28
Charlotte
W 54–70
Cynthia Cooper (31)
Tina Thompson (12)
Cynthia Cooper (5)
The Summit
1–0 :
Championship vs. New York Liberty
GameDateTeamScoreHigh pointsHigh reboundsHigh assistsLocation AttendanceSeries
1
August 30
New York
W 65–51
Cynthia Cooper (25)
Tammy Jackson (11)
Cynthia Cooper (4)
The Summit
1–0 :
1997 playoff 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 |
| 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
* Cynthia Cooper: Led WNBA, 3-Pt Field Goals, 67
* Cynthia Cooper: Led WNBA, Free Throws, 172
* Cynthia Cooper: Led WNBA, Free Throw Attempts, 199
* Cynthia Cooper: Led WNBA, Points, 621
* Cynthia Cooper: Led WNBA, Points per game, 22.2
* Cynthia Cooper: Ranked third in the WNBA in minutes played, 982
* Wanda Guyton: Second in WNBA (tied), Offensive Rebounds, 76
* Tina Thompson, Forward, All-WNBA First Team
* Van Chancellor, Coach of the Year