1997 Cleveland Rockers season

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

1997 Cleveland Rockers season
Coach	Linda Hill-MacDonald
Arena	Gund Arena
Attendance	7,971 per game
Results
Record	15–13 (.536)
Place	4th (Eastern)
Playoff finish	Did not qualify
Team Leaders
Points	Eva Nemcova (13.7)
Rebounds	Janice Braxton (7.6)
Assists	Michelle Edwards (4.5)
1998 season →

Transactions

WNBA allocation draft

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

WNBA elite draft

See also: 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

See also: 1997 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[1]
February 27, 1997	Drafted Isabelle Fijalkowski and Lynette Woodard in the 1997 WNBA Elite Draft[1]
April 28, 1997	Drafted Eva Němcová, Merlakia Jones, Tina Nicholson and Anita Maxwell in the 1997 WNBA Draft[1]
May 6, 1997	Hired Linda Hill-MacDonald as Head Coach[1]

Roster

1997 Cleveland Rockers roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. No. Nat. Name Height Weight DOB From Yrs G 20 Alberts, Marcie 5' 4" (1.63m) 1975-04-12 Ohio State R G 14 Boucek, Jenny 5' 8" (1.73m) 130 lb (59kg) 1973-12-20 Virginia R F 8 Braxton, Janice 6' 3" (1.91m) 178 lb (81kg) 1962-06-07 Louisiana Tech R F 34 Brown, Rushia 6' 2" (1.88m) 175 lb (79kg) 1972-05-05 Furman R G 44 Edwards, Michelle 5' 9" (1.75m) 150 lb (68kg) 1966-03-06 Iowa R F/C 13 Fijalkowski, Isabelle 6' 5" (1.96m) 200 lb (91kg) 1972-05-23 Colorado R G 31 Johnson, Adrienne 5' 10" (1.78m) 154 lb (70kg) 1974-02-05 Ohio State R G 25 Jones, Merlakia 5' 10" (1.78m) 147 lb (67kg) 1973-06-21 Florida R F 40 Maxwell, Anita 1974-04-07 New Mexico State R F 6 Němcová, Eva 6' 3" (1.91m) 178 lb (81kg) 1972-12-03 R G 11 Nicholson, Tina 5' 2" (1.57m) 146 lb (66kg) 1973-09-27 Penn State R G 4 Woodard, Lynette 6' 0" (1.83m) 160 lb (73kg) 1959-08-12 Kansas R	Head coach Linda Hill-MacDonald (West Chester) Assistant coaches Mike Wilhelm Legend (C) Team captain (DP) Unsigned draft pick (FA) Free agent (S) Suspended Injured

Schedule

Regular season

1997 game log Total: 15–13 (Home: 10–5; Road: 7–9)
June: 1–3 (Home: 1–2; Road: 0–1) Game Date Team Score High points High rebounds High assists Location Attendance Record 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) Game Date Team Score High points High rebounds High assists Location Attendance Record 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) Game Date Team Score High points High rebounds High assists Location Attendance Record 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

Legend
GP	Games played	GS	Games started	MPG	Minutes per game	RPG	Rebounds per game
APG	Assists per game	SPG	Steals per game	BPG	Blocks per game	PPG	Points per game
FG%	Field-goal percentage	3P%	3-point field-goal percentage	FT%	Free-throw percentage	TO	Turnovers per game
PF	Fouls per game		Team leader		League leader

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

^[2]