The 1997 WNBA season was the inaugural season for the Sacramento Monarchs.
Transactions
WNBA allocation draft Player Nationality School/Team/Country Bridgette Gordon Tennessee Ruthie Bolton Auburn
WNBA elite draft
Round Pick Player Nationality School/Team/Country 1 6 Judy Mosley-McAfee Hawaii 2 14 Mikiko Hagiwara Japan
WNBA draft
Round Pick Player Nationality School/Team/Country 1 2 Pamela McGee USC 2 15 Denique Graves Howard318Chantel TremitiereAuburn431Tajama AbrahamGeorge Washington
Transactions DateTransaction January 22, 1997 Drafted Bridgette Gordon and Ruthie Bolton in the 1997 WNBA Allocation Draft February 27, 1997 Drafted Judy Mosley-McAfee and Mikiko Hagiwara in the 1997 WNBA Elite Draft April 14, 1997 Hired Mary Murphy as Head Coach April 28, 1997 Drafted Pamela McGee, Denique Graves, Chantel Tremitiere and Tajama Abraham in the 1997 WNBA draftJuly 18, 1997Waived Corissa YasenJuly 20, 1997Waived Judy Mosley-McAfeeJuly 27, 1997Waived Yvette AngelJuly 28, 1997Fired Mary Murphy as Head CoachHired Heidi VanDerveer as Head CoachJuly 31, 1997Traded Mikiko Hagiwara to Phoenix Mercury in exchange for future considerationsAugust 6, 1997Waived Margold Clark
Roster
Schedule
Regular season
| 1 | June 21 | @ Utah | W 70–60 | Ruthie Bolton (18) | Ruthie Bolton (11) | Chantel Tremitiere (4) | Delta Center | 1–0 |- | 2 | June 23 | Houston | L 62–73 | Ruthie Bolton (27) | Ruthie Bolton (12) | Chantel Tremitiere (4) | ARCO Arena | 1–1 |- | 3 | June 26 | Charlotte | W 78–70 | Pamela McGee (23) | Bridgette Gordon (8) | Chantel Tremitiere (5) | ARCO Arena | 2–1 |- | 4 | June 27 | @ Los Angeles | L 92–102 | Ruthie Bolton (20) | Ruthie Bolton (6) | Ruthie Bolton (6) | Great Western Forum | 2–2
| 5 | July 2 | Utah | L 68–73 (OT) | Ruthie Bolton (20) | Judy Mosley-McAfee (9) | Chantel Tremitiere (10) | ARCO Arena | 2–3 |- | 6 | July 6 | Cleveland | W 70–67 | Ruthie Bolton (23) | Bridgette Gordon (8) | Bolton Tremitiere (4) | ARCO Arena | 3–3 |- | 7 | July 7 | @ Utah | W 79–69 | Ruthie Bolton (22) | Bolton Gordon Mosley-McAfee Tremitiere (7) | Chantel Tremitiere (12) | Delta Center | 4–3 |- | 8 | July 10 | @ Cleveland | L 61–77 | Ruthie Bolton (25) | Ruthie Bolton (8) | Chantel Tremitiere (6) | Gund Arena | 4–4 |- | 9 | July 12 | @ Houston | L 61–89 | Ruthie Bolton (14) | Ruthie Bolton (8) | Chantel Tremitiere (5) | The Summit | 4–5 |- | 10 | July 15 | Los Angeles | W 78–73 | Bridgette Gordon (22) | Latasha Byears (10) | Byears Gordon Tremitiere (4) | ARCO Arena | 5–5 |- | 11 | July 16 | @ Phoenix | L 67–84 | Bridgette Gordon (19) | Latasha Byears (8) | Angel Gordon (3) | America West Arena | 5–6 |- | 12 | July 18 | Houston | L 60–82 | Bridgette Gordon (18) | Latasha Byears (6) | Angel Tremitiere (5) | ARCO Arena | 5–7 |- | 13 | July 21 | Phoenix | L 57–50 | Latasha Byears (21) | Latasha Byears (17) | Chantel Tremitiere (6) | ARCO Arena | 5–8 |- | 14 | July 25 | Houston | L 76–86 | Byears McGee (17) | Latasha Byears (17) | Chantel Tremitiere (5) | ARCO Arena | 5–9 |- | 15 | July 27 | Los Angeles | L 62–84 | Bolton McGee (16) | Bolton McGee (8) | Latasha Byears (6) | ARCO Arena | 5–10 |- | 16 | July 30 | @ New York | L 68–73 (OT) | Bridgette Gordon (23) | Latasha Byears (10) | Chantel Tremitiere (7) | Madison Square Garden | 5–11
| 17 | August 1 | @ Charlotte | L 61–85 | Ruthie Bolton (18) | Ruthie Bolton (9) | Chantel Tremitiere (4) | Charlotte Coliseum | 5–12 |- | 18 | August 2 | @ Cleveland | L 51–72 | Ruthie Bolton (19) | Latasha Byears (11) | Chantel Tremitiere (5) | Gund Arena | 5–13 |- | 19 | August 4 | @ Phoenix | L 60–83 | Ruthie Bolton (22) | Latasha Byears (12) | Bridgette Gordon (5) | America West Arena | 5–14 |- | 20 | August 6 | Charlotte | W 77–64 | Ruthie Bolton (24) | Bridgette Gordon (9) | Ruthie Bolton (5) | ARCO Arena | 6–14 |- | 21 | August 8 | Utah | W 93–78 | Ruthie Bolton (34) | Latasha Byears (11) | Chantel Tremitiere (9) | ARCO Arena | 7–14 |- | 22 | August 10 | New York | W 76–69 | Latasha Byears (23) | Latasha Byears (8) | Chantel Tremitiere (5) | ARCO Arena | 8–14 |- | 23 | August 12 | Cleveland | W 81–76 | Ruthie Bolton (34) | Latasha Byears (11) | Byears Tremitiere (4) | ARCO Arena | 9–14 |- style="background:#fcc" | 24 | August 14 | @ Charlotte | L 51–68 | Ruthie Bolton (13) | Latasha Byears (11) | Pamela McGee (3) | Charlotte Coliseum | 9–15 |- | 25 | August 15 | @ New York | L 63–79 | Pamela McGee (17) | Latasha Byears (8) | Bridgette Gordon (5) | Madison Square Garden | 9–16 |- | 26 | August 20 | Phoenix | L 54–69 | Ruthie Bolton (12) | Corissa Yasen (5) | Ruthie Bolton (5) | ARCO Arena | 9–17 |- | 27 | August 22 | Los Angeles | L 77–88 | Latasha Byears (19) | Ruthie Bolton (8) | Chantel Tremitiere (6) | Great Western Forum | 9–18 |- | 28 | August 24 | Houston | W 68–58 | Gordon McGee (16) | Bridgette Gordon (9) | Chantel Tremitiere (4) | ARCO Arena | 10–18
Season standings
Statistics
Regular season Player GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG Chantel Tremitiere 28 28 37.5 .352 .189 .744 4.1 4.8 1.9 0.0 7.6 Ruthie Bolton 23 23 35.3 .402 .344 .768 5.8 2.6 2.3 0.0 19.4 Bridgette Gordon 28 28 35.0 .433 .275 .785 4.8 2.8 1.4 0.3 13.0 Pamela McGee 27 27 25.6 .459 .286 .705 4.4 0.7 1.0 0.5 10.6 Latasha Byears 28 19 23.4 .459 .200 .739 6.9 1.7 1.4 0.3 8.7 Judy Mosley-McAfee 13 9 20.4 .440 N/A 1.000 3.6 0.8 0.6 0.2 4.2 Yvette Angel 5 3 18.0 .438 .000 .000 1.8 2.2 0.8 0.2 2.8 Tajama Anderson 28 5 15.1 .381 N/A .684 2.4 0.5 0.4 0.4 4.4 Mikiko Hagiwara 14 2 12.4 .319 .273 .667 0.6 0.7 0.1 0.1 3.1 Margold Clark 4 0 11.5 .500 .000 .500 1.5 0.3 0.3 0.3 1.8 Laure Savasta 14 0 11.2 .244 .200 .778 0.4 0.9 0.3 0.1 2.4Corissa Yasen1909.9.404.000.5001.10.30.90.12.7Danielle Viglione704.3.273.250N/A0.60.10.10.01.0Denique Graves2203.9.222N/A.5000.70.00.00.30.7 ‡Waived/Released during the season †Traded during the season ≠Acquired during the season
Ruthie Bolton ranked second in the WNBA in points with 447 points. Ruthie Bolton ranked third in the WNBA in field goals with 164. Ruthie Bolton ranked fourth in the WNBA in Minutes per game with 35.3 Ruthie Bolton ranked second in the WNBA in points per game with 19.4 Ruthie Bolton was tied for sixth in the WNBA in steals with 54. Latasha Byears ranked fifth in the WNBA in total rebounds with 193 Latasha Byears ranked ninth in the WNBA in Field Goal Percentage (.459) Bridgette Gordon ranked first in the WNBA in Minutes per game with 35.0 Bridgette Gordon ranked ninth in the WNBA in Free Throw Pct with .785 Pamela McGee ranked eighth in the WNBA in Field Goal Percentage (.460) Chantel Tremitiere was tied for sixth in the WNBA in steals with 54. Chantel Tremitiere ranked first in the WNBA in Minutes per game with 37.5
Awards and honors Ruthie Bolton: Led WNBA, 3-Pt Field Goal Attempts, 192 Ruthie Bolton: Second in WNBA, 3-Pt Field Goals, 66 Latasha Byears: Led WNBA, Offensive Rebounds, 87 Chantel Tremitiere: Led WNBA, Minutes Played 1051 Chantel Tremitiere: Led WNBA, Turnovers, 122 Chantel Tremitiere: Led WNBA, Minutes per game, 37.5
References
External links Monarchs on Basketball Reference