Hoston Comets Franchise History

From Hoopedia

The Houston Comets were one of the original teams in the WNBA. They capped off a good inaugural season in 1997 with a win over the New York Liberty in the WNBA championship game to win the WNBA's first championship. When the league expanded the next season, the Comets were moved from the Eastern Conference to the Western Conference. In 1998, they repeated the championship, although by then the championship game had been extended into a three game championship series. They beat the Phoenix Mercury in the Finals that year.

In 1999, led by what was already known as the Big Three, (Sheryl Swoopes, Cynthia Cooper and Tina Thompson), the Comets survived a highlight film last second, court-to-court game winning shot by the Liberty's Teresa Weatherspoon in Game 2 of the finals to beat the Liberty in three games and win their third straight title, this one after the death of teammate Kim Perrot, who died of cancer.

In 2000, the Comets went all the way to the Finals again, and beat the Liberty in two games to win their fourth title in a row, becoming known as a sports dynasty. But after losing Cooper to retirement in 2001, they were able to reach only the quarterfinals, and in 2002, when Swoopes was injured most of the year with a broken ankle, they lost at the Quarterfinals again. They missed the playoffs for the first time in franchise history in 2004, but earned a playoff berth in 2005.

After being eliminated in the first round of the playoffs to the Sacramento Monarchs in 2006, the Comets underwent major front-office changes during the off-season. In October 2006, team owner Leslie Alexander (who also owns the NBA's Houston Rockets team) announced he was selling the Comets, and longtime Head Coach Van Chancellor resigned in January 2007. On January 31, 2007, the WNBA Board of Governors approved the sale of the team to Hilton Koch, a Houston-based mattress and furniture businessman. Two weeks later, Comets assistant coach Karleen Thompson was named to become the team's new Head Coach and General Manager for the 2007 season.

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