American Basketball League (1996-1998)
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The American Basketball League of 1996 was an independent professional basketball league for women in the United States. At the same time the ABL was being formed, the National Basketball Association was creating the Women's National Basketball Association. Both organizations came into existence during a surge in popularity for women's basketball in the United States that followed the undefeated, gold medal-winning performance of the United States Women's basketball team at the 1996 Summer Olympics.
The ABL got off the ground first, and early on was generally considered to feature a higher quality of play than the rival WNBA. This was partly due to the league's signing of a majority of players from the 1996 USA women's team. Star players were drawn to the league partly due to the higher salaries offered by the ABL. Ultimately, the league was unable to compete financially against the WNBA, which was backed by the NBA. The NBA has operated the WNBA at a loss every year since its inception.
The ABL lasted two full seasons: 1996-97 and 1997-98. The Atlanta Glory and Long Beach StingRays folded prior to the start of the 1998-99 season. The ABL disbanded on December 22, 1998 with most teams having played about 12 games of the 1998-99 season.
Of the locations of the ABL's teams, only Chicago, Portland and Seattle have been given WNBA teams. The Connecticut Sun are from New England, but not the same part as the Blizzard.
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[edit] ABL teams 1996-98
- Atlanta Glory
- Chicago Condors 1998
- Colorado Xplosion
- Columbus Quest
- Long Beach StingRays (expansion team in 1997-98)
- Nashville Noise 1998
- New England Blizzard
- Philadelphia Rage 1997-98
- Portland Power
- Richmond Rage 1996-97
- San Jose Lasers
- Seattle Reign
[edit] ABL Championship Best of Five Games Series
- 1996-97 Columbus Quest 3-2 Richmond Rage
- 1997-98 Columbus Quest 3-2 Long Beach StingRays
[edit] Notable ABL players
- Jennifer Azzi
- Cass Bauer-Bilodeau
- Debbie Black
- Edna Campbell
- Sylvia Crawley
- Andrea Lloyd-Curry
- Teresa Edwards
- Tonya Edwards, now an assistant coach at University of Detroit Mercy
- Yolanda Griffith
- Sonja Henning
- Shannon Johnson
- Michelle Marciniak
- Nikki McCray
- Taj McWilliams-Franklin
- Kate Paye
- Angie Potthoff, now an assistant coach at University of Notre Dame
- Katrina Price
- Jennifer Rizzotti, now a Head Coach at the University of Hartford
- Saudia Roundtree
- Sheri Sam
- Katie Smith
- Charlotte Smith-Taylor
- Dawn Staley, now the Head Coach at Temple University
- Kate Starbird
- Shanele Stires, now an assistant coach at University of San Francisco
- DeMya Walker
- Vonda Ward, now a professional boxer
- Natalie Williams
