1998 Detroit Shock season

The 1998 WNBA season was the first for the Detroit Shock. The team had an 0–4 start, but by season's end they missed out on a postseason berth by just one game in the standings.^[1]

1998 Detroit Shock season
Coach	Nancy Lieberman-Cline
Arena	The Palace of Auburn Hills
Attendance	10,229 per game
Results
Record	17–13 (.567)
Place	4th (Eastern)
Playoff finish	Did not qualify
Team Leaders
Points	Sandy Brondello (14.2)
Rebounds	Cindy Brown (10.0)
Assists	Sandy Brondello (3.2)
1999 season →

Transactions

WNBA allocation draft

Player	Nationality	School/Team/Country
Cindy Brown	United States	Seattle Reign
Razija Brcaninovich	Yugoslavia	Microcamp Campinas (Brazil)

WNBA expansion draft

Main article: 1998 WNBA expansion draft

Player	Nationality	Former WNBA Team
Lynette Woodard	United States	Cleveland Rockers
Tara Williams	United States	Phoenix Mercury
Tajama Abraham	United States	Sacramento Monarchs
Rhonda Blades	United States	New York Liberty

WNBA draft

See also: 1998 WNBA draft

Round	Pick	Player	Nationality	School/Team/Country
1	4	Korie Hlede	Yugoslavia	Duquesne
2	14	Rachael Sporn	Australia	Adelaide Lightning (Australia)
3	24	Gergana Branzova	Bulgaria	FIU
4	34	Sandy Brondello	Australia	BTV Wuppertal (Germany)

Transactions

Date	Transaction
January 12, 1998	Hired Nancy Lieberman-Cline as Head Coach[2]
January 27, 1998	Drafted Cindy Brown and Razija Brcaninovic in the 1998 WNBA Allocation Draft[2]
February 18, 1998	Drafted Lynette Woodard, Tara Williams, Tajama Abraham and Rhonda Blades in the 1998 WNBA expansion draft[2]
April 29, 1998	Drafted Korie Hlede, Rachael Sporn, Gergana Branzova and Sandy Brondello in the 1998 WNBA Draft[2]
May 2, 1998	Signed Aneta Kausaite and Mfon Udoka[2]
June 22, 1998	Waived Mfon Udoka[2]

Roster

1998 Detroit Shock roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. No. Nat. Name Height Weight DOB From Yrs C 40 Abraham, Tajama 6' 2" (1.88m) 190 lb (86kg) 1975-09-27 George Washington 1 G 10 Blades, Rhonda 5' 7" (1.7m) 138 lb (63kg) 1972-10-29 Vanderbilt 1 F 11 Boyd, Carla 6' 1" (1.85m) 172 lb (78kg) 1975-10-31 R F 34 Branzova, Gergana 6' 4" (1.93m) 178 lb (81kg) 1976-07-25 FIU R C 12 Brcaninovich, Razija 6' 8" (2.03m) 198 lb (90kg) 1967-04-15 R G 6 Brondello, Sandy 5' 7" (1.7m) 136 lb (62kg) 1968-08-20 R F 14 Brown, Cindy 6' 2" (1.88m) 183 lb (83kg) 1965-03-16 Long Beach State R G/F 24 Hamblin, Angela 5' 10" (1.78m) 170 lb (77kg) 1976-09-30 Iowa R G 7 Hlede, Korie 5' 9" (1.75m) 155 lb (70kg) 1975-03-29 Duquesne R F 20 Kausaite, Aneta 6' 0" (1.83m) 155 lb (70kg) 1970-11-30 Emporia State R F 4 Sporn, Rachael 6' 1" (1.85m) 175 lb (79kg) 1968-03-26 R F 30 Udoka, Mfon 6' 0" (1.83m) 187 lb (85kg) 1976-06-16 DePaul R G 8 Woodard, Lynette 6' 0" (1.83m) 160 lb (73kg) 1959-08-12 Kansas 1	Head coach Nancy Lieberman-Cline (Old Dominion) Legend (C) Team captain (DP) Unsigned draft pick (FA) Free agent (S) Suspended Injured

Schedule

Regular season

1998 game log Total: 17–13 (Home: 11–4; Road: 6–9)
June: 5–4 (Home: 3–2; Road: 2–2) Game Date Team Score High points High rebounds High assists Location Attendance Record 1 June 13 Charlotte L 69–78 Razija Brcaninovic (22) Razija Brcaninovic (13) Blades Boyd (4) The Palace of Auburn Hills 0–1 2 June 15 Cleveland L 85–96 Korie Hlede (17) Cindy Brown (10) Sandy Brondello (5) The Palace of Auburn Hills 0–2 3 June 18 @ Charlotte L 67–71 Sandy Brondello (14) Cindy Brown (7) Rhonda Blades (4) Charlotte Coliseum 0–3 4 June 20 @ Cleveland L 57–65 Korie Hlede (19) Rachael Sporn (8) Sandy Brondello (5) Gund Arena 0–4 5 June 21 @ Washington W 70–57 Korie Hlede (20) Brown Hlede (6) Sandy Brondello (9) MCI Center 1–4 6 June 23 Sacramento W 61–57 Korie Hlede (25) Cindy Brown (12) Korie Hlede (4) The Palace of Auburn Hills 2–4 7 June 25 Washington W 79–71 Sandy Brondello (19) Cindy Brown (7) Sandy Brondello (5) The Palace of Auburn Hills 3–4 8 June 27 @ Cleveland W 84–73 Brondello Hlede (23) Cindy Brown (10) Brondello Hlede (4) Gund Arena 4–4 9 June 29 Charlotte W 60–49 Brondello Brown (19) Cindy Brown (16) Blades Hlede (2) The Palace of Auburn Hills 5–4
July: 7–6 (Home: 6–1; Road: 1–5) Game Date Team Score High points High rebounds High assists Location Attendance Record 10 July 1 New York W 82–65 Cindy Brown (22) Brcaninovic Brown (10) Sandy Brondello (7) The Palace of Auburn Hills 6–4 11 July 6 @ New York L 56–59 Cindy Brown (12) Cindy Brown (12) Sandy Brondello (5) Madison Square Garden 6–5 12 July 8 Phoenix L 76–78 Carla Boyd (18) Cindy Brown (9) Sandy Brondello (8) The Palace of Auburn Hills 6–6 13 July 9 @ Houston L 66–96 Cindy Brown (14) Cindy Brown (13) Brondello Hlede (5) Compaq Center 6–7 14 July 11 @ Washington L 53–78 Sandy Brondello (10) Cindy Brown (10) Hlede Woodard (2) MCI Center 6–8 15 July 13 @ Utah W 74–67 Sandy Brondello (23) Korie Hlede (11) Sandy Brondello (3) Delta Center 7–8 16 July 15 @ Phoenix L 60–73 Korie Hlede (16) Brown Sporn (9) Sandy Brondello (4) America West Arena 7–9 17 July 17 Utah W 79–67 Sandy Brondello (18) Cindy Brown (15) Sandy Brondello (7) The Palace of Auburn Hills 8–9 18 July 18 Cleveland W 72–57 Brown Hlede (16) Korie Hlede (13) Sandy Brondello (3) The Palace of Auburn Hills 9–9 19 July 22 Washington W 76–61 Carla Boyd (19) Cindy Brown (9) Brondello Brown Hlede (3) The Palace of Auburn Hills 10–9 20 July 25 Los Angeles W 69–67 Korie Hlede (20) Cindy Brown (14) Korie Hlede (7) The Palace of Auburn Hills 11–9 21 July 26 @ New York L 62–78 Korie Hlede (14) Korie Hlede (8) Korie Hlede (6) Madison Square Garden 11–10 22 July 31 Sacramento W 78–77 Sandy Brondello (20) Cindy Brown (10) Carla Boyd (9) The Palace of Auburn Hills 12–10
August: 5–3 (Home: 2–1; Road: 3–2) Game Date Team Score High points High rebounds High assists Location Attendance Record 23 August 3 @ Charlotte L 68–71 Sandy Brondello (21) Cindy Brown (10) Carla Boyd (4) Charlotte Coliseum 12–11 24 August 5 Los Angeles W 73–61 Korie Hlede (20) Cindy Brown (10) Brondello Brown (4) The Palace of Auburn Hills 13–11 25 August 7 Houston L 57–61 Cindy Brown (13) Cindy Brown (13) Cindy Brown (5) The Palace of Auburn Hills 13–12 26 August 10 @ Utah W 77–73 Korie Hlede (20) Cindy Brown (21) Cindy Brown (4) Delta Center 14–12 27 August 11 @ Sacramento W 50–41 Sandy Brondello (15) Cindy Brown (12) Carla Boyd (4) ARCO Arena 15–12 28 August 14 @ Phoenix L 59–74 Sandy Brondello (20) Carla Boyd (8) Rhonda Blades (3) America West Arena 15–13 29 August 16 @ Los Angeles W 73–68 Razija Brcaninovic (25) Cindy Brown (11) Sandy Brondello (5) Great Western Forum 16–13 30 August 19 New York W 82–68 Sandy Brondello (24) Lynette Woodard (9) Lynette Woodard (3) The Palace of Auburn Hills 17–13
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

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
Korie Hlede	27	27	33.8	.391	.392	.806	5.2	2.7	0.8	0.0	14.1
Sandy Brondello	30	28	33.1	.428	.364	.923	2.9	3.3	1.3	0.0	14.2
Cindy Brown	30	30	32.2	.470	.328	.707	10.0	1.8	1.7	0.7	11.8
Carla Boyd	30	24	27.2	.342	.302	.632	3.9	2.3	0.9	0.3	8.2
Razija Brcaninovic	30	30	23.2	.520	N/A	.667	5.1	1.0	0.3	0.9	9.1
Rachael Sporn	30	1	17.8	.408	N/A	.500	3.6	1.3	0.3	0.4	4.5
Lynette Woodard	27	8	14.2	.387	N/A	.575	2.4	0.8	0.8	0.1	3.5
Rhonda Blades	29	2	11.7	.256	.240	.483	1.1	1.4	1.4	0.0	2.3
Mfon Udoka	3	0	8.3	.167	N/A	.500	1.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	1.3
Gergana Branzova	26	0	7.8	.446	.000	.550	1.6	0.3	0.1	0.2	2.7
Aneta Kausaite	10	0	5.8	.250	.000	.571	1.1	0.1	0.3	0.0	1.4
Angela Hamblin	6	0	4.8	.250	.500	.500	1.2	0.3	0.2	0.0	1.0
Tajama Abraham	12	0	3.7	.357	N/A	.533	0.6	0.0	0.2	0.1	1.5

^‡Waived/Released during the season
^†Traded during the season
^≠Acquired during the season