2008 Houston Comets season

The 2008 WNBA season was the 12th and final season for the Houston Comets. The Comets were not able to return to the postseason for the first time since 2006. By season's end, Comets owner Hilton Koch put the franchise up for sale less than two years after he bought it.[1]

2008 Houston Comets season
CoachKarleen Thompson
ArenaReliant Arena
Attendanceper game
Results
Record17–17 (.500)
Place5th (Western)
Playoff finishDid not qualify
2009 season →

Offseason

Expansion draft

[2]

WNBA draft
Pick Player Nationality School/Club Team
5 Matee Ajavon  United States Rutgers
17 Erica White  United States LSU
31 Crystal Kelly  United States Western Kentucky

[3]

Transactions
  • February 20: Signed free agent Mwadi Mabika.
  • February 25: Re-signed free agent Tamecka Dixon.
  • February 27: Signed Erin Grant to a training camp contract.
  • March 6: Re-signed Barbara Turner, then traded her to the Connecticut Sun for Megan Mahoney.
  • March 7: Signed free agent Shannon Johnson.
  • March 28: Re-signed free agent Michelle Snow.
  • March 31: Re-signed free agent Tina Thompson.
  • April 10: Signed Debbie Remmerde to a training camp contract.
  • April 14: Signed Tamara Ransburg and Marcedes Walker to training camp contracts.
  • April 15: Waived Anastasia Kostaki.
  • April 16: Signed Sequoia Holmes to a training camp contract.
  • April 19: Waived Tamara Ransburg.
  • April 24: Waived Debbie Remmerde.
  • April 29: Waived Erin Grant, Megan Mahoney, Erin Myrick and Crystal Smith.
  • May 15: Waived Crystal Kelly.
  • May 16: Waived Latasha Byears.
  • June 15: Waived Marcedes Walker.
  • June 25: Re-signed Latasha Byears.
  • June 27: Waived Ashley Shields.
  • July 5: Signed Roneeka Hodges to a seven-day contract.
  • July 16: Signed Roneeka Hodges for the remainder of the season.

[4]

Preseason
Date Opponent Score Result Record
May 1 San Antonio 74-68 Win 1-0
May 9 Connecticut 80-88 Loss 1-1
May 13 Washington 66-72 Loss 1-2

[5]

Regular season

In a game against the Detroit Shock on July 24, Shock player Nancy Lieberman broke her own record for being the oldest player in the WNBA.[6] Lieberman, a Hall of Famer since 1999, was 39 years old when she played with Phoenix during the league's first year in 1997.

Nancy Lieberman played nine minutes and had two assists.[7] One of the assists included a no-look pass in the closing minutes of the Detroit Shock's 79-61 loss to the Houston Comets on July 24.

Season standings
Western Conference W L PCT GB Home Road Conf.
San Antonio Silver Stars x2410.706–15–29–810–10
Seattle Storm x2212.6472.016–16–1113–7
Los Angeles Sparks x2014.5884.012–58–912–8
Sacramento Monarchs x1816.5296.05–1213–49–11
Houston Comets o1717.5007.013–44–1310–10
Minnesota Lynx o1618.4718.010–76–118–12
Phoenix Mercury o1618.4718.09–87–108–12

Season Schedule
Date Opponent Score Result Record
May 17 @ Detroit 66-85 Loss 0-1
May 25 @ Washington 66-69 Loss 0-2
May 27 vs. Minnesota 92-98 (OT) Loss 0-3
May 30 @ Sacramento 66-73 Loss 0-4
June 1 @ Seattle 63-64 Loss 0-5
June 3 vs. San Antonio 75-72 Win 1-5
June 6 @ New York 73-81 Loss 1-6
June 7 @ Indiana 75-84 Loss 1-7
June 14 vs. Seattle 68-60 Win 2-7
June 16 vs. Atlanta 88-79 Win 3-7
June 18 vs. Washington 63-67 Loss 3-8
June 21 @ Minnesota 72-65 Win 4-8
June 24 @ San Antonio 82-81(OT) Win 5-8
June 26 vs. San Antonio 77-71 Win 6-8
June 28 vs. Indiana 75-61 Win 7-8
July 1 @ Connecticut 68-78 Loss 7-9
July 3 @ Atlanta 72-65 Win 8-9
July 5 vs. Sacramento 73-65 Win 9-9
July 8 @ Phoenix 94-99 Loss 9-10
July 9 @ Los Angeles 74-82(OT) Loss 9-11
July 12 @ Minnesota 71-85 Loss 9-12
July 17 vs. Minnesota 96-88 Win 10-12
July 19 vs. Los Angeles 75-72(OT) Win 11-12
July 22 vs. Phoenix 94-92 Win 12-12
July 24 vs. Detroit 79-61 Win 13-12
July 26 vs. Chicago 79-65 Win 14-12
August 28 @ Seattle 49-66 Loss 14-13
August 30 @ Sacramento 65-80 Loss 14-14
September 2 vs. New York 87-90(OT) Loss 14-15
September 6 vs. Los Angeles 66-84 Loss 14-16
September 7 @ Phoenix 74-99 Loss 14-17
September 9 vs. Connecticut 75-68 Win 15-17
September 14 @ Chicago 79-76 Win 16-17
September 15 vs. Sacramento 90-81 Win 17-17

[8]

  • The September 12th game against Sacramento Monarchs was postponed due to Hurricane Ike.

Player stats
Legend
  GP Games played   GS  Games started  MPG  Minutes per game
 FG%  Field-goal percentage  3P%  3-point field-goal percentage  FT%  Free-throw percentage
 RPG  Rebounds per game  APG  Assists per game  SPG  Steals per game
 BPG  Blocks per game  PPG  Points per game

Regular season
Player GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
Tina Thompson 302935.8.412.403.8596.92.11.10.718.1
Michelle Snow 343425.2.529.500.6976.81.30.50.99.9
Tamecka Dixon 242026.4.403.154.8573.21.81.00.19.0
Sancho Lyttle 27918.1.582.000.7456.20.91.51.08.2
Matee Ajavon 34217.8.331.191.7911.81.70.90.28.0
Hamchétou Maïga-Ba 262222.7.492.500.6923.31.51.30.37.8
Shannon Johnson 333230.7.379.320.7473.25.11.60.37.7
Roneeka Hodges 15618.3.418.3661.0002.01.30.30.17.3
Mwadi Mabika 201116.4.303.274.7141.90.90.50.04.6
Mistie Williams 32011.4.505.000.5492.40.60.40.33.8
Erica White 34212.5.284.143.8971.41.40.70.13.6
Sequoia Holmes 17311.9.258.235.7272.10.60.50.13.1
Latasha Byears 1104.2.471.000.6671.10.10.30.01.6
Ashley Shields 304.0.000.000.5000.00.30.30.00.7
Marcedes Walker 205.5.000.000.0003.50.50.00.50.0

Roster
Houston Comets roster
PlayersCoaches
Pos.#Nat.NameHeightWeightDOBFromYrs
G 1 United States Ajavon, Matee 5' 10" (1.78m) 160 lb (73kg) Rutgers
G/F 00 United States Byears, Latasha 5' 11" (1.8m) 206 lb (93kg) DePaul
G 20 United States Dixon, Tamecka 5' 9" (1.75m) 148 lb (67kg) Kansas
G 15 United States Hodges, Roneeka 5' 11" (1.8m) 165 lb (75kg) Florida State
G/F 17 United States Holmes, Sequoia 6' 1" (1.85m) 155 lb (70kg) UNLV
G 41 United States Johnson, Shannon 5' 7" (1.7m) 152 lb (69kg) South Carolina
F 21 United States Lyttle, Sancho 6' 4" (1.93m) 175 lb (79kg) Houston
G 4 Democratic Republic of the Congo Mabika, Mwadi 5' 11" (1.8m) 165 lb (75kg) Democratic Republic of the Congo
G/F 99 Mali Maïga-Ba, Hamchétou 6' 1" (1.85m) 160 lb (73kg) Old Dominion
C 2 United States Snow, Michelle 6' 5" (1.96m) 158 lb (72kg) Tennessee
F 7 United States Thompson, Tina 6' 2" (1.88m) 178 lb (81kg) USC
G 5 United States White, Erica 5' 3" (1.6m) 135 lb (61kg) LSU
F 8 United States Williams, Mistie 6' 3" (1.91m) 184 lb (83kg) Duke
Head coach
  • United States Karleen Thompson (USC)
Assistant coaches
Athletic trainer
  • United States Courtney Watson
Strength and conditioning coach
  • United States Virgil Campbell
Legend
  • (C) Team captain
  • (FA) Free agent
  • (IN) Inactive
  • (S) Suspended
  • Injured Injured

Awards and honors

Final Days

On December 1, 2008, the WNBA announced a plan to fold the team, which resulted in the loss of 37 jobs.[9] A dispersal draft took place on December 8, 2008. Before the team folded, they were possibly going to move to Las Vegas, Nevada, but the plan didn't work out.

What turned out to be the team's final home game in its history was relocated from the Reliant Arena to the Strahan Coliseum on the campus of Texas State due to Hurricane Ike. The game was played on September 15, 2008 as the Comets defeated the Sacramento Monarchs 90-81.

References
  1. "Sports Business Journal".
  2. "WNBA.com: Atlanta Dream". Archived from the original on August 20, 2009. Retrieved April 25, 2008.
  3. WNBA.com: 2008 WNBA Draft Board Archived 2013-10-04 at the Wayback Machine
  4. WNBA.com: 2008 WNBA Transactions
  5. Wnba.Com: Schedules Archived 2008-05-14 at the Wayback Machine
  6. "ESPN report: Nancy Lieberman to play in WNBA at age 50 - Game on - USATODAY.com". Archived from the original on October 12, 2008. Retrieved October 12, 2008.
  7. Sports Illustrated, August 4, 2008, p.22
  8. COMETS: Comets Schedule 2008
  9. Comets To Cease Operations from Houston KRIV
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