An
original Women's National Basketball Association team. Won
WNBA titles in
1997,
1998,
1999 and
2000 -- the first four years of the league's existence.
Van Chancellor is the coach; forward
Sheryl Swoopes is the team's star player.
During the championship years, however, guard Cynthia Cooper was the main reason the Comets won four straight titles. Cooper was named MVP of the WNBA Championship Series all four times. Cooper also was the WNBA's leading scorer in 1997-1999. In 1997, with Swoopes out of the lineup due to maternity leave, Cooper (along with forward Tina Thompson and guard Janeth Arcain) led the team to an 18-10 record and the league championship.
In 1998, the Comets went 27-3 in the regular season, a .900 winning percentage unmatched in professional basketball history. In 1999, the team struggled with guard Kim Perrot's cancer diagnosis and August 19 death, but the Comets still finished 26-6.
Houston won the league title again in 2000. Swoopes won the league's MVP award, and the Comets swept through the playoffs with a perfect 6-0 record.
After the 2000 season, the 37-year-old Cooper retired to coach the Phoenix Mercury. To make things worse for the Comets, on 2001 Swoopes tore her anterior cruciate ligament and was lost for the season. The Los Angeles Sparks won the 2001 WNBA title.
The Comets' NBA sibling team is the Houston Rockets.
Source:
WNBA.com