1.
Women's National Basketball Association
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The Womens National Basketball Association is a professional womens basketball league in the United States. It is currently composed of twelve teams, the league was founded on April 24,1996 as the womens counterpart to the National Basketball Association, and league play started in 1997. The regular season is played from June to September with the All Star game being played midway through the season in July, many WNBA teams have direct NBA counterparts and play in the same arena. The four aforementioned franchises, along with the Atlanta Dream and the Los Angeles Sparks, are all independently owned. The creation of the WNBA was officially approved by the NBA Board of Governors on April 24,1996, and announced at a conference with Rebecca Lobo, Lisa Leslie. The new WNBA had to compete with the recently-formed American Basketball League, while not the first major womens professional basketball league in the United States, the WNBA is the only league to receive full backing of the NBA. The WNBA logo, Logo Woman, paralleled the NBA logo and was selected out of 50 different designs. On the heels of a gold medal run by the 1996 USA Basketball Womens National Team at the 1996 Summer Olympic Games. The first WNBA game featured the New York Liberty facing the Los Angeles Sparks in Los Angeles, the game was televised nationally in the United States on the NBC television network. Penny Toler scored the leagues first point, the WNBA centered its marketing campaign, dubbed We Got Next, around stars Rebecca Lobo, Lisa Leslie and Sheryl Swoopes. In the leagues first season, Leslies Los Angeles Sparks underperformed, the WNBAs true star in 1997 was WNBA MVP Cynthia Cooper, Swoopes teammate on the Houston Comets. The Comets defeated Lobos New York Liberty in the first WNBA Championship game, the initial We Got Next advertisement ran before each WNBA season until it was replaced with the We Got Game campaign. Two teams were added in 1998 and two more in 1999, bringing the number of teams in the league up to twelve and we expect to keep growing the league. In 1999, the chief competition, the American Basketball League. When a lockout resulted in an abbreviated NBA season, the WNBA saw faltering TV viewership, on May 23,2000, the Houston Comets became the first WNBA team to be invited to the White House Rose Garden. Before this invitation, only mens sports teams had traveled to the White House, at the end of the 2000 season, the Houston Comets won their fourth championship, capturing every title since the leagues inception. Led by the Big Three of Sheryl Swoopes, Tina Thompson, and four-time Finals MVP Cynthia Cooper, under head coach Van Chancellor, the team posted a 98–24 record through their first four seasons. After 2000, Cooper retired from the league and the Comets dynasty came to an end, the top contender in the 2001 season was the Los Angeles Sparks
2.
Minnesota Lynx
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The Minnesota Lynx are a professional basketball team based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, playing in the Western Conference in the Womens National Basketball Association. The team was founded prior to the 1999 season, the team is owned by Glen Taylor, who also owns the Lynx NBA counterpart, the Minnesota Timberwolves. The Lynx have qualified for the WNBA Playoffs in eight of their eighteen years in Minnesota, the team won the WNBA title in 2011,2013, and 2015. The franchise has been home to many high-quality players such as Katie Smith, explosive small-forward Seimone Augustus, native Minnesotan Lindsay Whalen, on April 22,1998, the WNBA announced they would add two expansion teams for the 1999 season. The team was named the Minnesota Lynx on December 5,1998. The Lynx started their season in 1999 with 12,122 fans in attendance to watch the first regular-season game against the Detroit Shock at Target Center. The Lynx defeated Detroit 68-51 in the franchises first game and they finished their first season 15–17 overall and held the same record in 2000. In 2001, the Lynx took a turn for the worse as they posted a 12–20 record, the Lynx first head coach Brian Agler was released during the 2002 season after compiling a 47–67 record in three-plus seasons. Heidi VanDerveer became the head coach for the remainder of the season. The team finished the 2002 season with a 10–22 record, worst in franchise history, in 2003, the Lynx hired Suzie McConnell Serio as head coach. She led the team to finish with a franchise-best 18–16 record and they matched both of these feats in the 2004 season. The 2005 season was one of transition for the franchise, leading scorer Katie Smith was dealt to Detroit in July and the team stumbled down the stretch, missing the playoffs for the first time in three years. The Lynx began the 2006 season as the youngest team in the WNBA, on May 31, the team set the WNBA single game scoring record, routing the Los Angeles Sparks by a score of 114–71. That victory however, was a bright spot in a frustrating season. With her team floundering to an 8–15 record, head coach Suzie McConnell Serio resigned on July 23 and she was replaced by assistant Carolyn Jenkins, who piloted the squad to a 2–9 finish. The teams 24 losses set a franchise record, following the season, Augustus was named the 2006 WNBA Rookie of the Year. The 22-year-old was the player in team history to win the award. On December 13,2006, the Lynx named veteran NBA assistant Don Zierden their fifth head coach and his staff included Carolyn Jenkins former Lynx player Teresa Edwards
3.
Basketball
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Basketball is a non-contact team sport played on a rectangular court by two teams of five players each. The objective is to shoot a ball through a hoop 18 inches in diameter and 10 feet high that is mounted to a backboard at each end of the court. The game was invented in 1891 by Dr. James Naismith, a team can score a field goal by shooting the ball through the basket being defended by the opposition team during regular play. A field goal scores three points for the team if the player shoots from behind the three-point line. A team can also score via free throws, which are worth one point, the team with the most points at the end of the game wins, but additional time is mandated when the score is tied at the end of regulation. The ball can be advanced on the court by passing it to a teammate and it is a violation to lift, or drag, ones pivot foot without dribbling the ball, to carry it, or to hold the ball with both hands then resume dribbling. The game has many techniques for displaying skill—ball-handling, shooting, passing, dribbling, dunking, shot-blocking. The point guard directs the on court action of the team, implementing the coachs game plan, Basketball is one of the worlds most popular and widely viewed sports. Outside North America, the top clubs from national leagues qualify to continental championships such as the Euroleague, the FIBA Basketball World Cup attracts the top national teams from around the world. Each continent hosts regional competitions for teams, like EuroBasket. The FIBA Womens Basketball World Cup features the top womens basketball teams from continental championships. The main North American league is the WNBA, whereas the EuroLeague Women has been dominated by teams from the Russian Womens Basketball Premier League, in early December 1891, Canadian Dr. He sought a vigorous indoor game to keep his students occupied, after rejecting other ideas as either too rough or poorly suited to walled-in gymnasiums, he wrote the basic rules and nailed a peach basket onto a 10-foot elevated track. Basketball was originally played with a soccer ball and these laces could cause bounce passes and dribbling to be unpredictable. Eventually a lace-free ball construction method was invented, and this change to the game was endorsed by Naismith, dribbling was not part of the original game except for the bounce pass to teammates. Passing the ball was the means of ball movement. Dribbling was eventually introduced but limited by the shape of early balls. Dribbling only became a part of the game around the 1950s
4.
La Salle University
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La Salle University is a private, co-educational, Roman Catholic university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Named for St. Jean-Baptiste de La Salle, the university was founded in 1863 by the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools, the university offers traditional, online, and hybrid courses and programs. The university is affiliated with the Roman Catholic Church through the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, La Salle College was founded in March 1863 as an all-male college by Brother Teliow and Archbishop James Wood of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. It was first located at St. Michaels Parish on N. 2nd Street in the Olde Kensington section of Philadelphia, La Salle soon moved to the building vacated by St. Josephs College at 1234 Filbert Street in Center City, Philadelphia. Due to space constraints, in 1930 La Salle moved to its current campus at the intersection of 20th Street, the new location had a suburban feel with ample land, but was linked to the city by trolleys and the newly constructed Broad Street Subway. The 1930s proved to be a decade for La Salle. The main academic building on campus, College Hall was unable to be finished due to a lack of funds, the colleges closing was prevented by a 75th Anniversary Fund Drive in 1938, spearheaded by Philadelphia businessman John McCarthy. Funds raised from this also enabled La Salle to purchase a tract of land to the east of 19th Street. Several new buildings were constructed in the 1940s and 1950s, including a new library, student union, and it was also during this time that the first student residence halls were constructed at La Salle, mostly on land purchased from the former Belfield Country Club. Additional student housing was provided by purchasing or renting local homes, such as the known as The Mansion, on David. During the 1960s, the school section moved out due to the lack of space after many years of sharing the same campus with the College. La Salle admitted women to its classes in 1970, becoming a fully co-educational institution. A year later, La Salle opened Olney Hall, its academic building. It was also during this era, in 1984, that La Salle was granted University status, in 2007, La Salle acquired the former Germantown Hospital, now West Campus, and constructed The Shoppes at La Salle shopping center across the street in 2008. The construction of the Shoppes at La Salle and addition of The Fresh Grocer ended a decades-long food desert in Germantown, in October 2015, La Salle inaugurated its first lay person and first woman president, Dr. Colleen Hanycz, former president of Brescia University College. In 2015, Hanycz led consolidation and prioritization efforts, ultimately firing a dozen prominent staff members and administrators. The university even cut six undergraduate majors, which were mostly in the language department. However, just a year after her arrival, the stated that it would decrease tuition by 29 percent
5.
Rebekkah Brunson
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Rebekkah Brunson is an American basketball forward for the Minnesota Lynx of the Womens National Basketball Association. She played for the Georgetown University womens basketball team in college, Brunson was born in Washington, D. C. and attended Oxon Hill High School in Maryland. Brunson graduated from Georgetown in 2004 as its womens basketball programs all-time leading rebounder and she also played on the U. S. team in the 2003 Pan American Games. Source The Sacramento Monarchs chose Brunson in the 1st round of the 2004 WNBA Draft as the tenth overall pick and she played in Sacramento for six seasons and contributed to the Monarchs 2005 WNBA Championship victory. She led the league in rebounds per game and total offensive rebounds for the 2007 regular season. After the Monarchs suspended operations in the fall of 2009, the Minnesota Lynx acquired Brunson in a dispersal draft. In 2011, Brunson tied a WNBA record with six consecutive double-doubles, and was named WNBA Player of the Month for June and she was later named to the 2011 WNBA All-Star game, and started in place of an injured Candace Parker. Brunson led the Lynx in field goal percentage and rebounds in a year where the team had the best record in the WNBA and she was honored with her first appearance on the WNBA All-Defensive First Team, she had earned second-team honors three previous times. The Lynx would go on to win the 2011 WNBA Championship, Brunson won her third league title in 2013. Brunson again made the All-Star Game, starting in place of the injured Brittney Griner, Brunson set the career mark for rebounds in the Finals, with 130, breaking the record held by former teammate Taj McWilliams-Franklin. She also broke McWilliams-Franklins record for Finals games played, with 19 and she then played for USK Prague, with which she won the Czech League title and reached the Womens Euroleague Top 16. She playing with Dynamo Kursk, along with Lynx teammate Seimone Augustus from 2013 to 2016, Brunson was named to the team representing the USA at the 2003 Pan American Games. The team lost the game to Cuba, then rebounded to win their next five games. They then faced Cuba for the medal, falling short 75–64 to take home the silver medal. Brunson shot 57% from the field, and ended up as the scorer as well as the leading rebounder for the USA team. Brunson was one of 21 finalists for the 2012 U. S. Women’s Olympic Basketball Team Roster, Brunson established and manages the 32 Foundation, which sponsors academic and athletic opportunities for youth in the metropolitan DC area. Lynx look to keep ‘Special Season’ going as second half begins
6.
Indiana Fever
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The Indiana Fever is a professional basketball team based in Indianapolis, Indiana, playing in the Eastern Conference in the Womens National Basketball Association. The team was founded before the inaugural 2000 season began, the team is owned by Herb Simon, who also owns the Fevers NBA counterpart, the Indiana Pacers, and Simon Malls. The Fever has qualified for the WNBA Playoffs in thirteen of its seventeen years in Indiana, the franchise has been home to many high-quality players such as Tennessee standout Tamika Catchings, hometown favorite Katie Douglas, and Australian defensive specialist Tully Bevilaqua. In 2009, the Fever went to the WNBA Finals but fell short to Phoenix, on October 21,2012, the Fever won the WNBA Championship with a win over the Minnesota Lynx. Tamika Catchings was named the series MVP, the Indiana Fever team began in 2000, when the state was granted an expansion franchise to coincide with the opening of Bankers Life Fieldhouse. In their first two seasons, they were coached by womens basketball legends Anne Donovan and Nell Fortner, led by center Kara Wolters, in their inaugural campaign the team posted a record of 9–23. The Fever drafted University of Tennessee star Tamika Catchings in the 2001 WNBA Draft, the Fever went into the year with high expectations of a playoff berth, but Catchings tore her ACL during a college game and missed the entire WNBA season. The Fever posted a 10–22 record in 2001, after missing the entire 2001 season, the 2002 season proved to be the breakout season for Tamika Catchings and the Fever. Catchings came out strong and became one of the most versatile players in the WNBA and her team competed well all year and would post a respectable 16–16 record, tying for the final playoff spot with the Orlando Miracle. Indiana would win the tiebreaker and earn their first playoff appearance in franchise history and they drew the #1 seed in the playoffs, the Liberty, with the Fever losing two games to one. The 2002–2003 offseason brought a lot of change for the Fever, the team added Olympian Natalie Williams and Charlotte Sting star Kelly Miller before the 2003 season. During the offseason the original coach and GM Nell Fortner would resign, Kelly Krauskopf would replace Fortner as GM and immediately hire Brian Winters to be the head coach. On May 29,2003 the Fever registered their first sellout of 18,345, the team would do better under the new coaching, but missed the playoffs, posting a 16–18 record. The 2004 campaign was similar to 2003s. The Fever finished with a 15–19 record and they missed the playoffs by one game in the Eastern Conference. In 2005, the Fever had their best season since joining the league, posting a 21–13 record, in the first round, the Fever swept the New York Liberty two games to none, earning their first playoff series victory in franchise history. In the Eastern Conference Finals, the Fever faced the heavily favored Connecticut Sun, Game 1 came down to the final seconds when Katie Douglas hit a crucial three to win the game for the Sun. Game 2 went into overtime, with the Sun winning, thus sweeping the Fever two games to none, in the 2005–2006 offseason, the Fever acquired All-Star Anna DeForge from the Phoenix Mercury in exchange for Kelly Miller
7.
Seimone Augustus
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Seimone Delicia Augustus is an American professional womens basketball player with the Minnesota Lynx of the Womens National Basketball Association, Dynamo Kursk and the U. S. national team. Augustus was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, she is the daughter of Seymore, before her freshman year in high school, Augustus was featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated for Women, with a headline that asked, Is She the Next Michael Jordan. Augustus played for Capitol High School in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and she participated in the 2002 WBCA High School All-America Game where she scored fourteen points, and earned MVP honors. The Lady Tigers however, never advanced beyond the semi-final round and she averaged 19.3 points,5.2 rebounds and 2 assists per game in her collegiate career. During her final year, she won the Lowes Senior CLASS Award, Augustus graduated from Louisiana State University in 2006. Her uniform number was retired by LSU on January 9,2010, Augustus had also played with future WNBA teammate Sylvia Fowles during her collegiate career at LSU. Source Augustus was drafted No.1 overall in 2006 WNBA Draft by the Minnesota Lynx, selected as a reserve for the 2006 WNBA All Star Game at Madison Square Garden, Augustus led the West squad with 16 points and won the Skills Competition the previous evening. Augustus finished 2006 second to the Mercurys Diana Taurasi in scoring at 21.9 points per game, only one player, scored more points in a single season. In addition, she finished fifth in free throw percentage, on August 20, Augustus was named the 2006 WNBA Rookie of the Year. The former LSU star improved to a career-high 22.6 points per game in 2007, an All Star for the second straight year, Augustus finished second to Seattles Lauren Jackson in scoring average and played in all 34 games. The Lynx however, finished 10–24 tied with Los Angeles Sparks for the leagues worst record, in June 2009, Seimone suffered a season-ending injury, a torn ACL, against the Phoenix Mercury. Augustuss return in 2010 was derailed by medical issues as well, as she was forced to undergo surgery to remove fibroid tumors, Augustus had attempted to postpone surgery until after the season, but the pain was too difficult to play through. Despite the setback, Augustus returned to play the final 25 games of the season, Augustus was finally back to full strength in 2011, and a part of a potent Lynx team that included a supporting cast of Lindsay Whalen, Rebekkah Brunson and newly acquired rookie Maya Moore. Augustus led the team in scoring and served as the lead defender as the Lynx rolled to a league best 27-7 record. Augustus also made her first all-star game since 2007 and she finished eighth in MVP voting, and was named Second Team All-WNBA for the third time in her career, and the first since 2007. Augustus elevated her game in the playoffs and she led the Lynx in scoring in five of their eight games, and scored the second-highest number of points in WNBA Finals history –36 – in game two of the 2011 WNBA Finals. The Lynx swept the Atlanta Dream in the round, with Augustus being unanimously named Finals MVP. The Lynx were not a flash in the pan, they would return to the finals the two seasons, losing to the Indiana Fever in 2012, and defeating Atlanta again in 2013
8.
Maya Moore
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Maya April Moore is an American professional basketball player for the Minnesota Lynx of the Womens National Basketball Association. Moore was the winner of the 2006 and 2007 Naismith Prep Player of the Year, Moore played forward for the UConn womens basketball team, and won back to back national championships in 2009 and 2010. She was selected as the John Wooden Award winner in 2009 after leading Connecticut to the national championship. On May 18,2011, Moore became the first female player to sign with Jordan Brand. Moore was the first overall pick in the 2011 WNBA Draft, since 2011, Moore has continued to excel, both with the Lynx and with overseas teams in Europe and China. Moore has won three WNBA championships, WNBA Most Valuable Player Award, WNBA Finals MVP Award, WNBA All-Star Game MVP and she has also been selected to four WNBA All-Star teams and three All-WNBA teams. In 2012, she won both the Spanish league title and EuroLeague title playing for Ros Casares Valencia, from 2013 to 2015, Moore also won the Chinese league title every year. Maya April Moore was born on June 11,1989 in Jefferson City and she is the daughter of Kathryn Moore. Moore had her first exposure to basketball at the age of three when her mother mounted a hoop on the door of their apartment. She attended Moreau Heights Elementary School as a child, Moore attended Collins Hill High School in Gwinnett County, near Suwanee, Georgia. Moore was a starter at Collins Hill High School, where she had a 125-3 record with the Eagles. Moore was named to the USA Today Freshman and Sophomore All-America Teams, during her junior year in 2005–06, averaged 23.2 points,11.3 rebounds,4.6 assists and 5.4 steals as a junior at Collins Hill. Moore was named the Naismith Prep Player of the Year and she was only the second junior to win the Naismith award Her first dunk was one-handed off an alley-oop pass in warm-ups at a dunk contest in Charlotte, NC in December 2005. As a senior, she averaged 25.5 points,12.1 rebounds,4.0 assists and 4.3 steals, in the title game of the T-Mobile Invitational in Seattle, she scored 48 points in a win over St. Elizabeth. Moore helped lead her high school to four state championships appearances. Moore is a three-time Georgia 5A Player of the Year and 2007 Miss Georgia Basketball, Moore finished as Collins High Schools all-time leader in points rebounds, assists and steals. In addition to basketball, she participated in track and field. Moore finished as the first-place runner-up in the jump at the 2005 Georgia State 5A Championships
9.
Seattle Storm
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The Seattle Storm is a professional basketball team based in Seattle, Washington, playing in the Western Conference in the Womens National Basketball Association. The team was founded before the 2000 season began, the team is owned by Force 10 Hoops LLC, which is composed of three Seattle businesswomen, Dawn Trudeau, Lisa Brummel, and Ginny Gilder. The Storm has qualified for the WNBA Playoffs in twelve of its seventeen years in Seattle, in 2004 and 2010, the Storm went to the WNBA Finals, they won each time, beating Connecticut in 2004 and Atlanta in 2010. The Storm was the team of the Seattle SuperSonics until February 28,2008. The Storms predecessor was the Seattle Reign, a member of the American Basketball League, operating from 1996 through December 1998. Luckier than most localities that had an ABL team, Seattle was quickly awarded a WNBA franchise, the Seattle Storm would tip off their first season in typical expansion fashion. Coached by Lin Dunn and led by guard Edna Campbell and Czech center Kamila Vodichkova, the low record, however, allowed the Storm to draft 19-year-old Australian standout Lauren Jackson. Though Seattle did not make the playoffs in the 2001 season, in the 2002 draft, the Storm drafted UConn star Sue Bird, filling the Storms gap at the point guard position. With Birds playmaking ability and Jacksons scoring and rebounding, the made the playoffs for the first time in 2002. Coach Anne Donovan was hired for the 2003 campaign, in Donovans first year, Jackson would win the WNBA Most Valuable Player Award, but the team had a disappointing season, and the Storm missed the playoffs. The 2004 Storm posted a then franchise-best 20–14 record, in the playoffs, the Storm made quick work of the Minnesota Lynx, sweeping them in the first round. The Storm then squared off against an up-and-coming Sacramento Monarchs team in the West Finals, the Storm would emerge victorious, winning the series 2–1. In the WNBA Finals, the Storm would finish off the season as champions, betty Lennox was named MVP of the Finals. The win made Anne Donovan the first female coach in WNBA history to win the WNBA Championship. Key players from the Storms championship season were not on the team in 2005, Vodichkova, Tully Bevilaqua, and Sheri Sam moved on to other teams. In addition, the injury of Australian star and new acquisition Jessica Bibby hampered the teams 2005 season. While they matched their 2004 record and made the playoffs, the Storms title defense was stopped in the first round by the Houston Comets,2 games to 1, in 2006, the Storm would finish 18–16, good enough to make the playoffs. The Storm put up a fight in the first round against the Sparks
10.
Tulsa Shock
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The Tulsa Shock were a professional basketball team based in Tulsa, Oklahoma, playing in the Western Conference in the Womens National Basketball Association. The team was founded in Detroit, Michigan before the 1998 WNBA season began, the team was owned by Tulsa Pro Hoops LLC, which is led by Bill Cameron and David Box. On July 20,2015, Cameron announced that the franchise would move to Arlington, the Shock qualified for the WNBA Playoffs in their final year in Tulsa in 2015. In 2003,2006,2007, and 2008, the Shock went to the WNBA Finals, they won in 2003,2006 and 2008, beating Los Angeles, Sacramento and they lost in 2007 to Phoenix. The Shock were one of the first WNBA expansion teams and began play in 1998, the Shock quickly brought in a blend of rookies and veterans. The team only qualified for the once in its first five years of existence. The Shock went through two coaches before hiring former Detroit Pistons legend Bill Laimbeer, there were rumors the Shock would fold after the teams awful 2002 season. Laimbeer convinced the owners to keep the team for another year, after massive changes to the roster, Laimbeer predicted before the 2003 season that the Shock would be league champions, and his prediction would unbelievably come true. The Shock finished with a 25-9 record and winning the one seed by seven games. In the playoffs, the Shock defeated the Cleveland Rockers and the Connecticut Sun to reach the WNBA Finals, despite the achievements, the Shock were viewed as huge underdogs to the two-time defending champion Los Angeles Sparks. The Shock emerged victorious in the series, winning a game three which drew the largest crowd in WNBA history. Detroit became the first team in history to go from last place one season to WNBA champions the very next season. After coming up short in 2004 and 2005, the 2006 Shock finished 23-11 record, the Shock defeated the Indiana Fever and the Connecticut Sun to advance to the Finals again, where they faced the defending champion Sacramento Monarchs. The Shock won the series 3-2, and claimed their second WNBA title, in 2007, the Shock again advanced to the Finals but were defeated by the Phoenix Mercury in five games. The 2008 Shock posted a 22-12 regular season record, the best record in the East yet again, in the Finals, the Shock faced the San Antonio Silver Stars, who had not lost to an Eastern Conference team all season. Surprisingly, Detroit swept San Antonio, capturing their third championship in franchise history, the Shock were named favorites for 2009, but they had a rough road getting there. Bill Laimbeer resigned as coach early in the season. However, interim coach Rick Mahorn and the Shock bounced back in the half of 2009
11.
Detroit Shock
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The Detroit Shock was a Womens National Basketball Association team based in Auburn Hills, Michigan. They were the 2003,2006, and 2008 WNBA champions, debuting in 1998, it was one of the leagues first expansion franchises. It was also the first WNBA expansion franchise to win a WNBA Championship, the team was the sister team of the Detroit Pistons and from 2002 to the 2009 season was coached by Pistons legend Bill Laimbeer. On October 20,2009, it was announced that the Shock would be moving to Tulsa, Oklahoma to play in the new downtown arena, former mens college coach Nolan Richardson was named the teams new head coach. The Shock roster and history was retained along with the Shock name, but the colors were changed to black, red. The franchise is known as Dallas Wings. The Shock were one of the first WNBA expansion teams and began play in 1998, the Detroit Shock - named after the Shock absorber, a car piece like the Pistons - quickly brought in a blend of rookies and veterans. The Shocks first coach was hall of famer Nancy Lieberman, the Shock would start out their inaugural season 0-4, but would put together an amazing expansion season, and finish 17-13, missing out on the postseason by one game. In 1999, the Shock finished 15-17, in a three way tie for the playoffs with the Orlando Miracle and the Charlotte Sting, the Shock and Sting played a one-game playoff, which the Shock would lose 60-54. In 2000, the Shock would finish with a 14-18 record and this time, the Shock would lose the tiebreaker and not qualify, losing to the Washington Mystics. Lieberman was fired after the season and replaced by Greg Williams, after the season in the 2001 WNBA Draft, the Shock would draft Deanna Nolan with the #6 pick. She would later develop into the team star, the 2001 Shock would finish the season with a 10-22 record, this time tying three teams for last place in the Eastern Conference. The 2002 Shock started the season 0-10, at which point Williams was fired and replaced by former Detroit Pistons legend Bill Laimbeer. After massive changes to the roster, Laimbeer predicted before the 2003 season that the Shock would be league champions, the Shock would tear up the East in the regular season, posting a 25-9 record and winning the #1 seed by 7 games. In the playoffs, the Shock would defeat the Cleveland Rockers 2-1 for their first playoff win in franchise history. In the Conference Finals, the Shock swept the Connecticut Sun 2-0 to reach the WNBA Finals, despite the achievements, the Shock were viewed as huge underdogs to the two time defending champion Los Angeles Sparks, who were looking for a three-peat. The Shock would emerge victorious in the series, winning a thrilling Game Three 83-78 and that game would draw the largest crowd ever in WNBA history. Detroit, much like the 1991 Minnesota Twins in baseball, became the first team in WNBA history to make it from last place one season to WNBA champions the next season
12.
Atlanta Dream
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The Atlanta Dream is a professional basketball team based in Atlanta, playing in the Eastern Conference in the Womens National Basketball Association. The team was founded before the 2008 WNBA season began, the team is owned by Dream Too LLC, which is composed of two Atlanta businesswomen, Mary Brock, and Kelly Loeffler. Like some other WNBA teams, the Dream is not affiliated with an NBA counterpart, the Dream has qualified for the WNBA Playoffs in seven of its nine years in Atlanta and has reached the WNBA Finals three times. In 2010, the Dream went to the WNBA Finals but fell short to Seattle and they lost to the Minnesota Lynx in the 2011 and 2013 WNBA Finals. They have been in the finals for three of four years, but havent won a game in them, going 0-9. Even before the success of the United States womens basketball team in the 1996 Olympic Games, plans were made to place a womens pro team in Atlanta as early as 1995. Eight of the 12 Olympians would play on ABL teams when the league play in October 1996. The Atlanta Glory played at Forbes Arena and would last two seasons before folding before the start of the 1998–99 season, which would be the ABLs final. Atlanta had been mentioned as a future city for WNBA expansion. An organizing committee with Atlanta businessmen and politicians began the effort to attract an expansion team. The inability of the Atlanta Hawks of the NBA to draw crowds was a concern of the WNBA, Philips Arena, the Gwinnett Arena and Alexander Memorial Coliseum were candidates for venues. By May 2007, the committee had over 1,000 pledges for season tickets, by July the committee had 1,200 commitments. The next step was to find an owner for the team, on October 16,2007 word broke that Ron Terwilliger, an Atlanta businessman and CEO of a national real estate company would be the future owner of an Atlanta franchise. The next day, at a conference at Atlantas Centennial Olympic Park. On November 27,2007 Atlanta named Marynell Meadors the first head coach/general manager in franchise history, for Meadors, a coach with extensive experience at the college level, this was her second role as a coach/general manager in the WNBA. Meadors had been one of the WNBAs first eight coaches as the head manager of the Charlotte Sting when that team began in 1997. Afterwards, Meadors had served as a director for the Miami Sol and had been an assistant coach under Richie Adubato. Former NBA player Dennis Rodman volunteered his name as head coach for the Dream, Terwilliger declined, stating that he wanted someone with more coaching experience and he felt that the head coach should be a woman, as the WNBA was a womens league
