BEST REGULAR SEASON FINISH IN TEAM HISTORY The Sting's 2002 regular season campaign was the most successful in franchise history. On the strength on their season-ending four-game win streak, the Sting finished in second place in the Eastern Conference. That second place showing was Charlotte's best final regular season standing in their six-year existence. The Sting's 18 wins also tied the team record for most wins in a season, sharing the honor with the 2001 squad, which also finished at 18-14. Charlotte's strong finish also awarded the team home-court advantage in its first round playoff series against the Washington Mystics. This will be the first time in team history that Charlotte has ever had the home-court edge in a playoff series.
The nickname seems to fit the Sting well, as they had the most prolific three-point shooting season in WNBA history. In 2002, Charlotte broke two league records, one for most three-pointers made in a season (211) and one for best three-point field goal percentage in a season (.400 / 211-of-527). Minnesota held the old WNBA record for most treys in a season (204 in 2000) while Sacramento held the record for best three-point field goal percentage in a season (.385 in 2001). Earlier this season, the Sting set a team record for most made three-pointers in a game when they dropped 12 treys on Los Angeles at home on June 1. Going into this season, the team's previous high mark for most three-pointers made in a game was nine, set on three occasions. The Sting also hit 11-of-24 from behind the arc in a 78-67 win vs. Cleveland on July 6 and 11-of-19 on July 1 in a 90-68 win vs. Phoenix. Individually, four Sting players rank among the WNBA's top 12 in three-point field goal percentage, led by reserve guard Kelly Miller. Miller finished the regular season as the league leader in three-point accuracy, hitting 47.1 percent (24-of-51) from behind the arc. The three other three-point specialists for the Sting were Allison Feaster (T6th � .418), Andrea Stinson (8th � .414) and Dawn Staley (12th � .398). SUTTON-BROWN SETS TWO TEAM RECORDS In just her second season with the Sting, center Tammy Sutton-Brown has already carved herself quite a spot in the Sting record book. This year, Sutton-Brown set two team records, one for highest field goal percentage in a season (53.1%) and one for most free throws made in a season (124). Rhonda Mapp held the previous team high mark for field goal percentage at 50.6 percent (set in 1998). Tracy Reid owned the old team record for most made free throws in a season (111). MODEL OF CONSISTENCY Allison Feaster set a Sting team record for consecutive games with at least one made three-pointer when she connected against Detroit on July 27 running her streak to 13 in a row. Her record streak of 16 straight games with at least one made three-pointer came to an end on August 4 vs. New York when she went 0-of-6 from behind the arc. Overall, she has connected from three-point territory at least once in 30 of 32 contests. ALLISON THREASTER Allison Feaster set a new team record for most three-point goals made in a season with 79, shattering her old team high of 55, which she set in 2001. Her trey total is also the third highest in WNBA history. Minnesota's Katie Smith owns the league record for most three-pointers in a season with 88 (set in 2000). Overall, Feaster hit 79-of-189 (41.8%) from three-point territory. On July 6 vs. Cleveland, Feaster set another team record, this time for most three-pointers in one game. Her career-high six 3-pointers against the Rockers also tied a WNBA season high for a single game. Her six bombs against Cleveland bested her previous career high of five, which she set on three different occasions this season (5-of-6 vs. Portland on July 3, 5-of-8 vs. Miami on June 22, 5-of-6 vs. Los Angeles on June 1. Feaster shared the old team record with Dawn Staley, who rang up five three-pointers vs. Cleveland on July 7, 1999.
40.0 THREE-POINT FIELD GOAL PERCENTAGE IN A SEASON Allison Feaster not only shot a lot of three-pointers in 2002, she made them as well. Her regular season three-point field goal percentage of 41.8 percent is the fourth highest of any WNBA player in league history that has had a minimum of 100 attempts in a season.
THOSE 70s SHOW The Sting's magic number seems to be 70, in scoring that is Charlotte is 14-4 in 2002 when scoring 70 or more points in a game, but just 3-10 when failing to reach that mark. The team is also 62-19 all-time when scoring more than 70 points, a winning percentage of .765. STINT THIRD IN WNBA CAREER SCORING With her 13-point performance on July 3 vs. Portland, Andrea Stinson moved past Cynthia Cooper into second place on the WNBA all-time scoring list. Since that time, Phoenix forward Jennifer Gillom has moved ahead of Stinson with 2,793 career points. Stinson ranks third overall with 2,749 career points. Cooper scored a total of 2,537 points over her four-year career. Current Los Angeles Sparks center Lisa Leslie is the league's all-time scoring leader with 3,193 points. STING IS STINGY IN MAKING MISTAKES The Sting has been the most consistent team in 2002 as far as taking care of the basketball. This year's Charlotte squad averaged a league-low 12.72 turnovers per game. That number also set a team record for lowest turnover average in a season. The 2001 edition of the Sting that made it all the way to the WNBA Finals averaged 14.8 turnovers per game. HOME/ROAD COMPARISON The Sting looked nearly unbeatable at the Charlotte Coliseum for much of the season, winning their first six home games of 2002 and seven of their first eight. Overall, the Sting finished up at 11-5 at the Hive. Charlotte also made improvements out on the road as the season progressed, winning its last three games and six of its last nine after starting the season 1-6 away from home.
LOSING STREAK STOPPED Charlotte snapped its season-high five-game losing streak on August 6 with a 76-65 win at Detroit. The last time the Sting lost more than five games in a row in the same season was in 2001 when they lost seven straight (June 12, 2001 � June 24, 2001). That seven-game slid is also the longest single season losing streak in team history. The longest regular season losing streak overall is 10 games, which started with the last five games of the 1999 season (began on August 9, 1999) and continued through the first five games of 2000 (ended on June 12, 2000). TWO WEEKS TO FORGET After surging into second place in the East with 10 wins in 13 games, the Sting hit some potholes in the season's second half dropping five straight games and six of seven in a span of 14 days. Rebounding, or the lack thereof, accounted for many of the team's problems. Through the first 21 games of the season, the Sting were outrebounding opponents by three-plus boards per game. Over the course of their next seven contests, the Sting were outrebounded by more than 7.8 rebounds per game. FEASTING AT HOME, FAMISHED ON THE ROAD Allison Feaster feels comfortable shooting at the Hive, and it shows in her play. In her 16 home starts this season, Feaster is averaging 13.1 ppg on .425 shooting (65-of-153), including .444 from three-point range (48-of-108). In comparison, she is averaging just 10.6 ppg in road starts on .360 shooting (50-of-139). She is also shooting �just� .383 from three-point territory (31-of-81). STINSON AMONG THE WNBA'S BEST Andrea Stinson is the only player in WNBA history with more than 1,000 career points (2,749), 500 rebounds (856), 500 assists (651), 200 steals (264) and 100 blocked shots (105).
The six members of the Charlotte Sting almost single-handedly pulled off the Eastern Conference's first win ever at the 2002 WNBA All-Star Game on July 15. Led by the Sting coaching staff of Anne Donovan, Trudi Lacey and Cheryl Reeve, the Eastern Conference All-Stars lost a tough, 81-76, decision to their Western Conference counterparts at a sold-out MCI Center in Washington, D.C. It was the most competitive All-Star event in its four-year history. The East, despite never winning an All-Star affair in its previous three attempts, kept things close throughout. The three Sting players in uniform for the East also did their parts to make the game exciting and to keep their team in the game. Dawn Staley, making her second All-Star appearance but first as a starter, played 18 minutes and registered four points, four rebounds and a team-high five assists. Andrea Stinson, originally selected as a reserve, got the start at forward in place of the injured Chamique Holdsclaw. In 20 minutes, the three-time All-Star scored nine points, a personal All-Star high. And Tammy Sutton-Brown, making her All-Star debut, made a great first impression, tallying nine points, four rebounds and three blocks. Charlotte and Los Angeles were the only two teams in the WNBA to have three players selected to the 2002 All-Star Game. CENTER OF ATTENTION She may be young, but second-year center Tammy Sutton-Brown is playing like a veteran. In 32 games, the All-Star center averaged 11.9 ppg (second best on team) and 6.0 rpg (led team) in 27.7 mpg. She is currently tied for the team lead in double-doubles with two. Sutton-Brown's most recent double-double was on July 3 vs. Portland in which she scored 13 points and grabbed 10 rebounds. Her first double-double came in her first start of the 2002 season on June 8 at Utah (14 pts, 10 rebs). She also ranked fourth in the WNBA in field goal percentage (.531), and finished in the top 12 in offensive rebounds (2.4) and top 15 in overall rebounding (6.0). STINSON STREAK INTACT Andrea Stinson's consecutive games started streak is alive and at 186 games and counting. Stinson, Teresa Weatherspoon and Vicky Bullett are the only three players in WNBA history to have started all their teams' games since the league's inception. FEASTER NAMED WNBA PLAYER OF THE WEEK The WNBA announced on June 8 that Charlotte Sting forward Allison Feaster is the WNBA Player of the Week for games played July 1-7. Feaster averaged 16.5 points and 4.0 rebounds during Charlotte's 3-1 week, hitting 23-of-39 field goal attempts (59.0%), including 18-of-29 from three-point range (62.1%). She is currently leading the league in three-pointers (42) and is fifth in three-point field goal percentage at 47.7 percent. Her six threes against Cleveland on July 6 set a team single-game record, and her 24 points vs. the Rockers were a career-high. Feaster's selection as the league's player of the week marks the sixth time the WNBA has bestowed the honor on a member of the Sting. Andrea Stinson has three Player of the Week awards to her credit while Dawn Staley and Tracy Reid have one each. MILLER'S TIME Kelly Miller scored 55 points in 225 minutes during the 2001 season (26 games), but exploded for a career-high 23 points on 8-of-10 shooting from the field and 4-of-4 from beyond the arc in 37 minutes vs. Los Angeles on June 1. In 32 games in 2002, Miller more than tripled her point total of a year ago, scoring 211 points (6.6 ppg) in 555 minutes. 50 PLUS Going into the 2002 season, the Sting had permitted opposing offenses to shoot 50 percent or better on 21 occasions in their five-year history (1997-2001), or an average of 4.2 times per season. This year Charlotte has allowed an opponent to shoot 50 percent or better on five occasions (through 25 games). The Sting is 2-3 in 2002 when their defense lets an opponent shoot 50 percent or better. Overall, Charlotte is just 3-23 all-time when it allows an opponent to shoot 50 percent or better from the field. CLOSE BUT NO CIGAR The Charlotte Sting has struggled in close games this season dropping six of seven games decided by three points or less. In contrast, the team is 8-3 in games decided by ten or more points. HOME COURT STREAK ENDS The Sting's franchise best 13-game regular-season home win streak came to an end on July 3 with a 76-73 loss to the Portland Fire. Charlotte's home run ties them with Houston for the third-longest home winning streak in WNBA history. Prior to Portland, the Sting had not lost a regular-season game at the Charlotte Coliseum since July 12, 2001 (72-69 vs. Orlando). The Los Angeles Sparks own the longest home winning streak at 28 games. NEW WNBA RECORD IS SUTTON ELSE Tammy Sutton-Brown set a new WNBA on June 8 at Utah for most consecutive made baskets without a miss (14). Her streak actually started with a lay-up just before halftime of the Sting's first game of the season against Los Angeles. Over the next half and overtime, Sutton-Brown made three more baskets without a miss. Over the course of the next two games (June 3 vs. Houston, June 6 at Seattle) she was a perfect 7-for-7 from the field. After hitting her first three field goals to run her streak to 14, Sutton-Brown finally missed a shot at the 10:23 mark of the first half on a putback attempt of a missed Erin Buescher shot. Los Angeles Sparks forward DeLisha Milton held the previous record of 12 consecutive shots made without a miss. Her mark was set over two consecutive games in 1999 (August 20, 21). HIGHEST SCORING TWINS Kelly (Charlotte) and Coco Miller (Washington) are now officially the highest scoring set of twins in WNBA history. Coco's 11 points in Washington's 73-69 road loss at Los Angeles on June 27 gave the Millers 303 career points combined (in 70 games), eight better than the Burge twins, Heidi (Los Angeles, 1997, Washington, 1998) and Heather (Sacramento, 1999). Through July 25, the Miller sisters have accumulated 598 points in 110 games. The Burge sisters combined to play in 65 games and scored 295 points. Heidi amassed the majority of those points, scoring 288 in her two seasons in the league. |
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