2001 Houston Comets season

The 2001 WNBA season was the fifth season for the Houston Comets. The team advanced to the WNBA Playoffs, but failed to win a fifth consecutive championship.

2001 Houston Comets season
Coach	Van Chancellor
Arena	Compaq Center
Attendance	11,320 per game
Results
Record	19–13 (.594)
Place	4th (Western)
Playoff finish	Lost First Round (2-0) to Los Angeles Sparks
Media
Television	KNWS (IND 51) Fox Sports Net Southwest
← 2000 season 2002 season →

Transactions

WNBA draft

See also: 2001 WNBA draft

Round	Pick	Player	Nationality	School/Team/Country
1	15	Amanda Lassiter	United States	Missouri
2	31	Tynesha Lewis	United States	NC State
3	33	ShaRae Mansfield	United States	Western Kentucky
3	47	Shala Crawford	United States	Life
4	63	Kristen Clement	United States	Tennessee

Transactions

Date	Transaction
April 20, 2001	Drafted Amanda Lassiter, Tynesha Lewis, ShaRae Mansfield, Shala Crawford and Kristen Clement in the 2001 WNBA Draft[1]
April 23, 2001	Traded Jennifer Rizzotti to the Detroit Shock in exchange for Anna DeForge[1]
April 30, 2001	Signed Daliborka Vilipić, Pietra Gay and Trisha Stafford-Odom[1]
May 8, 2001	Waived Pietra Gay and Shala Crawford[1]
	Signed Angela Aycock and Franthea Price[1]
May 10, 2001	Waived Anna DeForge[1]
May 11, 2001	Waived Franthea Price[1]
May 14, 2001	Waived ShaRae Mansfield[1]
May 25, 2001	Waived Kristen Clement[1]
May 27, 2001	Suspended contracts of Angela Aycock, Daliborka Vilipić, Natalya Zasulskaya and Polina Tzekova[1]
June 6, 2001	Waived Angela Aycock[1]
June 8, 2001	Waived Daliborka Vilipić[1]

Roster

2001 Houston Comets roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. No. Nat. Name Height Weight DOB From Yrs G 9 Arcain, Janeth 5' 11" (1.8m) 147 lb (67kg) 1969-04-11 4 G/F 3 Gibson, Kelley 5' 9" (1.75m) 137 lb (62kg) 1976-11-07 Maryland 1 G 6 Henderson, Nekeshia 5' 8" (1.73m) 1973-02-28 Texas R F/C 23 Jackson, Tammy 6' 2" (1.88m) 190 lb (86kg) 1962-12-03 Florida 4 C 0 Johnson, Tiffani 6' 4" (1.93m) 240 lb (109kg) 1975-12-27 Tennessee 2 F 24 Lassiter, Amanda 6' 1" (1.85m) 160 lb (73kg) 1979-06-09 Missouri R G 20 Lewis, Tynesha 5' 10" (1.78m) 152 lb (69kg) 1979-05-08 NC State R C 32 Shakirova, Elena 6' 3" (1.91m) 190 lb (86kg) 1970-06-02 1 F 5 Stafford-Odom, Trisha 6' 0" (1.83m) 160 lb (73kg) 1970-11-11 California R F 7 Thompson, Tina 6' 2" (1.88m) 178 lb (81kg) 1975-02-10 USC 4 G 4 Washington, Coquese 5' 6" (1.68m) 138 lb (63kg) 1971-01-17 Notre Dame 3	Head coach Van Chancellor (Mississippi State) Assistant coaches Kevin Cook Alisa Scott Michelle Leget Legend (C) Team captain (DP) Unsigned draft pick (FA) Free agent (S) Suspended Injured

Schedule

Regular season

2001 game log Total: 19–13 (Home: 11–5; Road: 8–8)
May: 1–1 (Home: 0–1; Road: 1–0) Game Date Team Score High points High rebounds High assists Location Attendance Record 1 May 28 Los Angeles L 63–66 Tina Thompson (23) Janeth Arcain (6) Janeth Arcain (4) Compaq Center 0–1 2 May 31 @ Indiana W 82–78 Arcain Thompson (26) Janeth Arcain (7) Coquese Washington (6) Conseco Fieldhouse 1–1
June : 9–1 (Home: 5–0; Road: 4–1) Game Date Team Score High points High rebounds High assists Location Attendance Record 3 June 2 @ Detroit W 74–73 Tina Thompson (28) Tina Thompson (11) Arcain Gibson Thompson Washington (2) The Palace of Auburn Hills 2–1 4 June 5 @ Utah W 72–68 Janeth Arcain (27) Tina Thompson (10) Amanda Lassiter (6) Delta Center 3–1 5 June 7 Detroit W 87–66 Janeth Arcain (27) Tina Thompson (12) Janeth Arcain (5) Compaq Center 4–1 6 June 10 @ Phoenix W 60–58 Tina Thompson (22) Tina Thompson (10) Coquese Washington (5) America West Arena 5–1 7 June 21 Los Angeles W 69–65 Tina Thompson (29) Tammy Jackson (7) Arcain Washington (5) Compaq Center 6–1 8 June 23 Sacramento W 70–56 Tina Thompson (21) Tina Thompson (9) Coquese Washington (5) Compaq Center 7–1 9 June 24 Portland W 67–57 Arcain Thompson (22) Tina Thompson (7) Coquese Washington (3) Compaq Center 8–1 10 June 27 Washington W 76–63 Tina Thompson (24) Tina Thompson (8) Coquese Washington (5) Compaq Center 9–1 11 June 28 @ Sacramento L 54–64 Tina Thompson (24) Coquese Washington (8) Coquese Washington (5) ARCO Arena 9–2 12 June 30 @ Minnesota W 59–52 Tina Thompson (17) Tina Thompson (10) Arcain Thompson Washington (4) Target Center 10–2
July : 6–6 (Home: 3–3; Road: 3–3) Game Date Team Score High points High rebounds High assists Location Attendance Record 13 July 2 Portland W 74–67 Tina Thompson (29) Tina Thompson (12) Tammy Jackson (4) Compaq Center 11–2 14 July 6 Indiana W 79–64 Janeth Arcain (17) Arcain Johnson (7) Coquese Washington (5) Compaq Center 12–2 15 July 8 Cleveland L 53–63 Tina Thompson (19) Lassiter Washington (5) Coquese Washington (6) Compaq Center 12–3 16 July 10 @ Sacramento L 76–78 (2OT) Tina Thompson (26) Amanda Lassiter (13) Janeth Arcain (6) ARCO Arena 12–4 17 July 12 @ Portland W 71–57 Arcain Thompson (22) Tynesha Lewis (8) Janeth Arcain (9) Rose Garden 13–4 18 July 13 @ Seattle W 58–55 Tina Thompson (22) Tina Thompson (9) Janeth Arcain (4) KeyArena 14–4 19 July 18 @ Orlando L 52–57 Janeth Arcain (17) Tina Thompson (12) Coquese Washington (4) TD Waterhouse Centre 14–5 20 July 20 @ Miami L 50–64 Tammy Jackson (18) Nekeshia Henderson (5) Arcain Lassiter Shakirova (2) American Airlines Arena 14–6 21 July 23 @ Minnesota W 51–46 Tina Thompson (24) Tina Thompson (10) Coquese Washington (6) Target Center 15–6 22 July 24 Utah L 67–76 Janeth Arcain (29) Janeth Arcain (8) Coquese Washington (4) Compaq Center 15–7 23 July 28 New York L 61–64 Janeth Arcain (19) Tina Thompson (9) Coquese Washington (5) Compaq Center 15–8 24 July 30 Seattle W 55–51 Janeth Arcain (16) Tina Thompson (11) Tina Thompson (4) Compaq Center 16–8
August : 3–5 (Home: 3–1; Road: 0–4) Game Date Team Score High points High rebounds High assists Location Attendance Record 25 August 1 Utah L 63–71 Janeth Arcain (18) Tiffani Johnson (10) Janeth Arcain (4) Compaq Center 16–9 26 August 3 Orlando W 72–60 Janeth Arcain (18) Tina Thompson (11) Coquese Washington (6) Compaq Center 17–9 27 August 4 @ Charlotte L 49–54 Janeth Arcain (20) Tammy Jackson (9) Coquese Washington (2) Charlotte Coliseum 17–10 28 August 6 Phoenix W 62–48 Janeth Arcain (18) Tina Thompson (7) Janeth Arcain (5) Compaq Center 18–10 29 August 8 @ Seattle L 55–72 Janeth Arcain (24) Trisha Stafford-Odom (12) Coquese Washington (4) KeyArena 18–11 30 August 11 @ Los Angeles L 54–65 Janeth Arcain (20) Tina Thompson (6) Thompson Washington (5) Staples Center 18–12 31 August 13 Minnesota W 74–60 Arcain Thompson (17) Trisha Stafford-Odom (9) Janeth Arcain (3) Compaq Center 19–12 32 August 14 @ Phoenix L 38–56 Elena Tornikidou (16) Wendy Palmer (5) Edwina Brown (7) America West Arena 19–13
2001 season schedule

Playoffs

2001 playoff game log
First round vs. Los Angeles Sparks Lost Series: 0–2 Game Date Team Score High points High rebounds High assists Location Attendance Series 1 August 18 Los Angeles L 59–64 Amanda Lassiter (17) Tiffani Johnson (12) Tina Thompson (5) Compaq Center 0–1 2 August 20 @ Los Angeles L 58–70 Janeth Arcain (18) Coquese Washington (7) Coquese Washington (3) Staples Center 0–2
2001 playoff schedule

Season standings

Western Conference	W	L	PCT	Conf.	GB
Los Angeles Sparks x	28	4	.875	19–2	–
Sacramento Monarchs x	20	12	.625	13–8	8.0
Utah Starzz x	19	13	.594	11–10	9.0
Houston Comets x	19	13	.594	13–8	9.0
Phoenix Mercury o	13	19	.406	8–13	15.0
Minnesota Lynx o	12	20	.375	9–12	16.0
Portland Fire o	11	21	.344	5–16	17.0
Seattle Storm o	10	22	.313	6–15	18.0

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
Tina Thompson	30	30	36.7	.377	.293	.840	7.8	1.9	1.0	0.7	19.3
Janeth Arcain	32	32	36.1	.426	.333	.900	4.3	2.9	1.9	0.1	18.5
Coquese Washington	32	32	31.7	.356	.358	.636	3.7	3.8	2.2	0.3	5.3
Tiffani Johnson	32	28	21.0	.449	N/A	.857	4.3	0.7	0.4	0.5	4.6
Amanda Lassiter	32	18	19.2	.367	.388	.667	3.4	1.1	0.5	0.7	4.3
Tynesha Lewis	29	4	14.4	.424	.400	.647	2.1	0.5	0.4	0.1	3.3
Tammy Jackson	32	4	13.8	.500	N/A	.450	2.8	0.7	0.7	0.3	3.3
Trisha Stafford-Odom	30	4	12.2	.368	.000	.673	2.8	0.5	0.4	0.1	3.8
Kelley Gibson	28	6	10.3	.228	.143	.682	1.0	0.5	0.3	0.2	1.6
Nekeshia Henderson	23	0	7.8	.237	.273	.286	0.9	1.0	0.3	0.0	1.1
Elena Shakirova	26	2	7.8	.316	.000	.609	1.3	0.3	0.2	0.1	1.5

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