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2013-Present
1997-2013
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WNBA History
The WNBA begain in 1997 with 8 teams, New York Liberty, Los Angeles Sparks, Charlotte Bobcats, Clevland Rockets, Utah Starzz, Sacramento Monarchs, Phoenix Mercury and the Washington Mystics. all the teams where affiliated with the NBA clubs in the same city.
THe Houston Comets won the first four WNBA Chmapionships behind Cheryl Swoops, Tina Thompson, and Cynthia Cooper. the Los Angeles Sparks won the next two behind Lisa Leslie, and Detroit the latest one behind Ruth Riley, Swin Cash, and Cheryl Ford.
Two WNBA allstars have had father who played in the NBA, Indiana Fever's Natalie Williams who's father Nat Williams played for the Indiana Pacers, and Utah Jazz, and who was head coach of the Sacramento Kings; and Detroits standout Chery Ford, who's father is NBA Legend and Hall-of-Famer Karl Malone.
The WNBA has had financial struggles in the last few years with several teams relocating or disbanding. The future of the league is still undecided but it could last for several more seasons.
Five WNBA teams have direct NBA counterparts and play in the same arena: the Atlanta Dream, Indiana Fever, Los Angeles Sparks, Minnesota Lynx, and Phoenix Mercury. The Chicago Sky, Connecticut Sun, Dallas Wings, Las Vegas Aces, New York Liberty, Seattle Storm, and Washington Mystics do not share an arena with a direct NBA counterpart, although four of the seven (the Sky, the Wings, the Liberty, and the Mystics) share a market with an NBA counterpart, and the Storm shared an arena and market with an NBA team at the time of its founding. The Sky, the Sun, the Wings, the Aces, the Sparks, and the Storm are all independently owned.
WNBA Presidents / Commissioners
President Tenure
Val Ackerman 1996–2005
Donna Orender 2005–2010
Chris Granger 2011
Laurel J. Richie 2011–2015
Lisa Borders 2015–2018
Mark Tatum 2018–2019
Commissioner Tenure
Cathy Engelbert 2019–present
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Marie Boyd: The First 100 Point Scorer:
Great scorer's and basketball seem to go hand-in-hand, so it is a rarity that a great scorer goes unnoticed, especially one that scores an astonishing 156 points in a game. But Marie Boyd, whose name is often misattributed as Mary Boyd, is just that; a prolific scorer that nobody knows of. She was the first player, man or woman, to score 100 points in a basketball game, a feat that has largely gone unnoticed.
Boyd is arguably the greatest woman basketball player of the first 50 years of basketball. An era where both the men's and women's game lacked the competition that we see today. Nonetheless she still dominated at such a high degree that was unmatched in the men's game until Wilt Chamberlain come along.
Central High School in Lonaconing, Maryland, was one of the first dominant schools in basketball history. The Black Knights as they were called went 4 years, 1922-25, without a loss and were in large part lead by the dominating Boyd
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Many people do not realize that long before there was the WNBA, there was a woman who attempted to join the ranks of professional basketball. six-foot-three Lusia Harris of Delta State University was taken in the seventh round of the 1977 NBA draft by the New Orleans Jazz. The pick was well deserving. Harris is still one of the greatest center to ever play women's college basketball.
She was a three-time All American at Delta State,Four-time All-State, All-Region, team MVP and team high scorer. She set a then record of 58 points in a game.
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