1997 Los Angeles Sparks season

1997 Los Angeles Sparks season
Head Coach Linda Sharp
Arena Great Western Forum
Attendance 8,931 per game
Results
Record 14–14
(.500)
Place 2nd (Western)
Playoff Finish Did not qualify
Los Angeles Sparks seasons
< 1996 1998 >

The 1997 WNBA season was the 1st season for the Los Angeles Sparks. The Sparks finished in second place in the Western Division with a record of 14 wins and 14 losses.

Contents

Offseason

Initial Player Allocation

Pick Player Nationality WNBA Team College/HS/Club Team
7 Lisa Leslie (C)  United States Los Angeles Sparks Southern California
8 Penny Toler (G)  United States Los Angeles Sparks Long Beach State

[1]

WNBA Draft

Round Pick Player Position Nationality College/HS/Club Team
1 3 Jamila Wideman Guard  United States Stanford
2 14 Tamecka Dixon  United States
3 19 Katrina Colleton
4 30 Travesa Gant

[2]

Regular season

The Sparks and WNBA's first game was played on June 21, 1997 in Los Angeles. The Sparks lost to the New York Liberty, 67-57. The attendance at the Forum was 14,284.[3]

Season standings

Western Conference W L PCT Conf. GB
Phoenix Mercury x 16 12 .571 9–3
Los Angeles Sparks o 14 14 .500 8–4 2.0
Sacramento Monarchs o 10 18 .357 4–8 6.0
Utah Starzz o 7 21 .250 3–9 9.0

Season Schedule

Date Opponent Score Result Record
June 21 New York 57-67 Loss 0-1
June 23 @ Utah 89-102 Loss 0-2
June 25 Charlotte 74-54 Win 1-2
June 27 Sacramento 93-73 Win 2-2
June 30 @ Houston 66-71 (OT) Loss 2-3
July 3 @ Cleveland 74-62 Win 3-3
July 5 @ Charlotte 66-78 Loss 3-4
July 7 Cleveland 70-81 Loss 3-5
July 11 Utah 75-68 Win 4-5
July 13 Phoenix 56-57 Loss 4-6
July 15 @ Sacramento 73-78 Loss 4-7
July 16 Houston 77-52 Win 5-7
July 19 @ New York 57-69 Loss 5-8
July 21 @ Charlotte 64-75 Loss 5-9
July 23 Cleveland 85-89 Loss 5-10
July 25 @ Phoenix 86-83 (OT) Win 6-10
July 27 @ Sacramento 84-62 Win 7-10
July 30 Utah 91-69 Win 8-10
August 1 Houston 57-81 Loss 8-11
August 3 Charlotte 70-77 Loss 8-12
August 5 @ New York 67-50 Win 9-12
August 7 @ Cleveland 87-84 (2OT) Win 10-12
August 9 @ Houston 71-72 Loss 10-13
August 16 @ Utah 74-64 Win 11-13
August 18 Phoenix 75-66 Win 12-13
August 20 New York 78-76 Win 13-13
August 22 Sacramento 88-77 Win 14-13
August 24 @ Phoenix 68-73 (OT) Loss 14-14

Player stats

Player Games Played Minutes Field Goals Rebounds Assists Steals Blocks Points
Lisa Leslie 28 902 160 266 74 39 59 445
Penny Toler 28 907 144 94 143 36 3 368
Tamecka Dixon 27 715 115 81 55 49 5 320
Haixia Zheng 28 557 110 123 17 11 20 259
Linda Burgess 28 492 73 117 9 20 13 183
Katrina Colleton 28 613 55 60 45 35 9 136
Mwadi Mabika 21 325 53 54 22 23 6 126
Heidi Burge 22 282 32 69 15 12 12 87
Jamila Wideman 28 633 25 57 103 24 1 84
Daedra Charles 28 282 27 48 12 10 10 64
Travesa Gant 2 13 0 3 0 0 0 0
Kim Gessig 1 4 0 1 0 0 0

[4]

Awards and honors

[5]

References

Sparks on Basketball Reference