1997 SEASON PREVIEW

WEST

LOS ANGELES SPARKS

* Arena--The Forum.

* Coach--Linda Sharp (409-184 at USC, Southwest Texas State).

* Top players--Lisa Leslie, 6-5; Zheng Haixia, 6-8; Penny Toler, 5-8; Tamecka Dixon, 5-9.

* Season ticket sales--1,700.

* Outlook--Leslie (USC, ‘94), arguably the world’s premier women’s player, is paired impressively with Haixia--pronounced Hi-shaw. A late arrival, Haixia, with only three practices behind her, was impressive in two scrimmages with Phoenix. Sharp has a deep backcourt. Point guard Toler (Long Beach State, ‘89), home from the pro league in Israel, is world class. Jamilla Wideman (Stanford, ‘97), the team’s first pick in the college draft, has been impressive in her limited time aboard--graduation was Sunday--and so has her rival for playing time, Dixon (Kansas, ‘97). The jury is still out on 6-3 power forward Daedra Charles of Tennessee, strong and talented, but overweight.

PHOENIX MERCURY

* Arena--America West Arena.

* Coach--Cheryl Miller (44-14 at USC).

* Top players--Michelle Timms, 5-7; Bridget Pettis, 5-9; Nancy Lieberman-Cline, 5-10; Jennifer Gillom, 6-3.

* Season ticket sales--3,900.

* Outlook--The Mercury has quickness and scoring at guard but is soft in the post. Rallying against a 20-point Sparks lead in a recent scrimmage, the Mercury cut the deficit to four, then the Sparks’ 6-5 Leslie and 6-8 Haixia took over. Timms is a full-court player who drives with the best and made 49% of her three-point shots at the Olympics. Lieberman-Cline is 38 but in phenomenal shape and is an outstanding ball distributor. Pettis is a streaky shooter.

SACRAMENTO MONARCHS

* Arena--Delta Center.

* Coach--Denise Taylor (50-34 at Northeastern Illinois).

* Top players--Dana Head, 5-10; Lady Hardmon, 5-10; Elena Baranova, 6-5; Tammi Reiss, 5-6.

* Season ticket sales--1,900.

* Outlook--Baranova is the centerpiece. She started in the post for Russia in the Atlanta Olympics and was the Games’ leading rebounder at 13.1 a game and the No. 2 scorer at 20.3 points. Head (Tennessee, ‘94) averaged 17 points and seven rebounds in France last season. Reiss (Virginia, ‘92), an aspiring actress, starts at the point. Hardmon (Georgia, ‘92) has been a European standout with her three-point shot. Key 6-2 forward Wendy Palmer (Virginia, ‘92) is coming off knee surgery.

UTAH STARZZ

* Arena--Arco Arena.

* Coach--Mary Murphy (18-33 at Cal State Hayward).

* Top players--Ruthie Bolton-Holifield, 5-9; Pam McGee, 6-3; Bridgette Gordon, 6-1; Mikiko Hagiwara, 5-9.

* Season ticket sales--1,900.

* Outlook--Bolton-Holifield (Tennessee, ‘89) will run the offense, score, steal, provide leadership and sing the national anthem. The Monarchs will live or die with this veteran, the leader of the ’96 Olympic gold-medal team. McGee (USC, ‘84) is half of the McGee Trojan twins team. Sister Paula is her agent. They played on the ’84 U.S. Olympic championship team. Hagiwara, from Japan, is the team’s three-point threat.

EAST

CHARLOTTE STING

* Arena--Charlotte Coliseum.

* Coach--Marynell Meadors (495-291 at Florida State, Tennessee Tech).

* Top players--Andrea Stinson, 5-10; Vicky Bullett, 6-3; Tora Suber, 5-7.

* Season ticket sales--1,000.

* Outlook--Good chemistry with Stinson (North Carolina State, ‘91), Sharon Manning (N.C. State, ‘91) and Rhonda Mapp (N.C. State, ‘92). Bullett, who has played seven seasons in Italy, is the best player but she’s also injury prone. She’ll anchor the middle. Suber (Virginia, ‘97) is the three-point shooter. Milca Vukadinovic (Cal, ‘93) is a 6-1 forward who had a productive Pac-10 career. Andrea Congreaves (Mercer, ‘92), is a 6-2 forward from Britain. Debra Williams (Louisiana Tech, ‘96), is a 5-8 guard who was one of the nation’s best under Leon Barmore at Louisiana Tech.

CLEVELAND ROCKERS

* Arena--Gund Arena.

* Coach--Linda Hill-MacDonald (232-256 at Temple, Minnesota).

* Top players--Michelle Edwards, 5-9; Isabelle Fijalkowski, 6-5; Janice Lawrence-Braxton, 6-3.

* Season ticket sales--1,400.

* Outlook--Edwards (Iowa, ‘88), a guard, led Cleveland with 17 points in each of its winning scrimmages against New York. She played in Italy the last nine seasons. Post player Fijalkowski (Colorado, ‘95), a 25-year-old Frenchwoman who played one season at Colorado, more than held her own in scrimmages against New York’s 6-4 Rebecca Lobo. Lawrence-Braxton is Cleveland’s enforcer and frontline stopper. Then there’s 6-foot Lynette Woodard (Kansas, ‘81), the league’s only player to have played for the Harlem Globetrotters.

HOUSTON COMETS

* Arena--The Summitt.

* Coach--Van Chancellor (439-154 at Mississippi).

* Top players--Tina Thompson, 6-3; Sheryl Swoopes, 5-11; Cynthia Cooper, 5-10.

* Season ticket sales--2,200.

* Outlook--Chancellor’s first day on the job was the day of the WNBA’s college player draft. Houston had the league’s first pick. He was torn between two former USC players, Thompson, who graduated this spring, and Pam McGee, class of ’84. He made a few calls, then picked Thompson. In a scrimmage last week, she scored 23 points, 10 in overtime. “Picking Tina was the smartest move I ever made in my life,” Chancellor said. Swoopes is due to give birth Saturday, opening day, but the team expects her to play some in August. Another former Trojan, Cynthia Cooper, 34, played the last 10 seasons for Parma in Italy and is Houston’s three-point threat. The team has sold 9,000 tickets for its home opener Tuesday against Phoenix.

NEW YORK LIBERTY

* Arena--Madison Square Garden.

* Coach--Nancy Darsch (234-125 at Ohio State).

* Top players--Rebecca Lobo, 6-4; Teresa Weatherspoon, 5-8; Sophia Witherspoon, 5-10; Kym Hampton, 6-2; Vickie Johnson, 5-9.

* Season ticket sales--2,000.

* Outlook--Lobo, the college player of the year for Connecticut’s 1995 national championship team, matured in her yearlong apprenticeship on the 1996 Olympic team. She lacks court speed but shoots well, is an aggressive rebounder and an exceptional passer. Weatherspoon and Witherspoon are possibly the league’s quickest guards, and Weatherspoon is a two-time Olympian. There’s not much depth or muscle in the paint. Lobo has been used mostly at forward but will spell Hampton at center.