2002 Minnesota Lynx season

2002 Minnesota Lynx season
Coach	Brian Agler (resigned Jul. 16, 6–13 record) Heidi VanDerveer (interim, 4–9 record)
Arena	Target Center
Attendance	7,819 per game
Results
Record	10–22 (.313)
Place	8th (Western)
Playoff finish	Did not qualify
← 2001 season 2003 season →

The 2002 WNBA season was the fourth for the Minnesota Lynx. The Lynx failed to emerge from their recent struggles, going dead last in the West.

Transactions

WNBA draft

See also: 2002 WNBA draft

Round	Pick	Player	Nationality	School/Team/Country
1	6	Tamika Williams	United States	UConn
3	38	Lindsey Meder	United States	Iowa
4	54	Shárron Francis	United States	Old Dominion

Transactions

Date	Transaction
April 19, 2002	Traded Erin Buescher to the Charlotte Sting in exchange for Shaunzinski Gortman[1]
	Drafted Tamika Williams, Lindsey Meder, and Shárron Francis in the 2002 WNBA Draft[1]
April 26, 2002	Signed ShaRae Mansfield and Sonja Tate[1]
May 7, 2002	Waived ShaRae Mansfield and Shárron Francis[1]
May 11, 2002	Signed Angelina Wolvert[1]
May 12, 2002	Waived Kate Paye[1]
May 16, 2002	Waived Angelina Wolvert[1]
	Suspended contract of Sonja Tate[1]
June 11, 2002	Traded Betty Lennox and a 2003 1st Round Pick to the Miami Sol in exchange for Tamara Moore and a 2003 2nd Round Pick[1]
June 13, 2002	Signed Tamara Moore[1]
July 16, 2002	Brian Agler resigned as Head Coach[1]
	Hired Heidi VanDerveer as Interim Head Coach[1]

Roster

2002 Minnesota Lynx roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. # Nat. Name Height Weight DOB From Yrs F 25 Abrosimova, Svetlana 6' 2" (1.88m) 169 lb (77kg) 1980-07-09 Connecticut 1 C 33 Burse, Janell 6' 5" (1.96m) 199 lb (90kg) 1979-05-19 Tulane 1 G 32 Gortman, Shaunzinski 5' 10" (1.78m) 158 lb (72kg) 1979-12-07 South Carolina R G 8 Harrower, Kristi 5' 4" (1.63m) 139 lb (63kg) 1975-03-04 3 G 22 Lennox, Betty 5' 8" (1.73m) 143 lb (65kg) 1976-12-04 Louisiana Tech 2 G 21 Moore, Tamara 5' 10" (1.78m) 176 lb (80kg) 1980-04-11 Wisconsin R G/F 34 Pride, Lynn 6' 2" (1.88m) 180 lb (82kg) 1978-10-16 Kansas 2 G/F 23 Schweitzer, Georgia 6' 0" (1.83m) – 1979-01-31 Duke 1 G 30 Smith, Katie 5' 11" (1.8m) 175 lb (79kg) 1974-06-04 Ohio State 3 F 3 Stires, Shanele 5' 11" (1.8m) 208 lb (94kg) 1972-05-21 Kansas State 2 C 31 Van Gorp, Michele 6' 6" (1.98m) 187 lb (85kg) 1977-05-10 Duke 3 F/C 52 Whiting-Raymond, Val 6' 2" (1.88m) 199 lb (90kg) 1972-04-09 Stanford 2 F 20 Williams, Tamika 6' 2" (1.88m) 195 lb (88kg) 1980-04-12 Connecticut R	Head coach Heidi VanDerveer (College of Charleston) Assistant coaches Kelly Kramer Legend (C) Team captain (FA) Free agent (IN) Inactive (S) Suspended Injured

Schedule

Regular season

2002 game log Total: 10–22 (Home: 7–9; Road: 3–13)
May: 1–1 (Home: 0–1; Road: 1–0) Game Date Team Score High points High rebounds High assists Location Attendance Record 1 May 25 Utah L 75–79 (OT) Svetlana Abrosimova (26) Tamika Williams (11) Abrosimova Williams (4) Target Center 0–1 2 May 28 @ Miami W 66–63 Svetlana Abrosimova (21) Tamika Williams (7) Betty Lennox (5) American Airlines Arena 1–1
June : 4–7 (Home: 3–2; Road: 1–5) Game Date Team Score High points High rebounds High assists Location Attendance Record 3 June 1 @ New York W 63–61 Katie Smith (23) Tamika Williams (7) Georgia Schweitzer (4) ARCO Arena 2–1 4 June 4 @ Seattle L 68–78 (OT) Svetlana Abrosimova (16) Abrosimova Williams (6) Abrosimova Schweitzer (4) KeyArena 2–2 5 June 8 Los Angeles L 72–76 Svetlana Abrosimova (23) Abrosimova Williams (6) Georgia Schweitzer (4) Target Center 2–3 6 June 11 Sacramento W 72–63 Katie Smith (22) Pride Williams (7) Katie Smith (5) Target Center 3–3 7 June 13 Portland W 60–46 Katie Smith (17) Svetlana Abrosimova (13) Tamika Williams (4) Target Center 4–3 8 June 15 @ Houston L 50–51 Abrosimova Williams (17) Pride Williams (7) Lynn Pride (3) Compaq Center 4–4 9 June 18 @ Portland L 51–59 Katie Smith (13) Abrosimova Williams (7) Katie Smith (3) Rose Garden 4–5 10 June 21 @ Los Angeles L 64–73 Katie Smith (27) Tamika Williams (9) Kristi Harrower (6) Staples Center 4–6 11 June 23 @ Phoenix L 61–70 Tamika Williams (19) Tamika Williams (12) Harrower Moore (3) America West Arena 4–7 12 June 25 Houston L 55–73 Tamara Moore (16) Tamika Williams (8) Tamara Moore (5) Target Center 4–8 13 June 29 Orlando W 67–59 Katie Smith (25) Svetlana Abrosimova (10) Svetlana Abrosimova (5) Target Center 5–8
July : 2–11 (Home: 2–4; Road: 0–7) Game Date Team Score High points High rebounds High assists Location Attendance Record 14 July 1 Detroit W 85–80 Katie Smith (28) Tamika Williams (11) Tamara Moore (7) Target Center 6–8 15 July 3 Washington L 63–64 Katie Smith (18) Tamara Moore (6) Pride Smith Williams (3) Target Center 6–9 16 July 5 @ Utah L 56–87 Shaunzinski Gortman (14) Lynn Pride (8) Tamara Moore (4) Delta Center 6–10 17 July 10 Portland L 72–75 Katie Smith (21) Abrosimova Williams (9) Lynn Pride (3) Target Center 6–11 18 July 12 @ Detroit L 69–72 Katie Smith (27) Tamika Williams (7) Abrosimova Harrower (4) The Palace of Auburn Hills 6–12 19 July 13 @ Charlotte L 60–63 Svetlana Abrosimova (17) Lynn Pride (7) Lynn Pride (5) Charlotte Coliseum 6–13 20 July 17 Cleveland L 48–58 Tamara Moore (14) Tamika Williams (8) Tamara Moore (6) Target Center 6–14 21 July 19 Miami L 58–61 Katie Smith (12) Michele Van Gorp (6) Tamara Moore (6) Target Center 6–15 22 July 24 Utah W 70–62 Katie Smith (20) Svetlana Abrosimova (12) Tamara Moore (6) Target Center 7–15 23 July 26 @ Indiana L 63–73 Tamara Moore (19) Svetlana Abrosimova (11) Lynn Pride (4) Conseco Fieldhouse 7–16 24 July 28 @ Sacramento L 56–66 Katie Smith (19) Tamara Moore (7) Tamara Moore (3) ARCO Arena 7–17 25 July 29 @ Phoenix L 45–57 Svetlana Abrosimova (13) Michele Van Gorp (8) Katie Smith (4) America West Arena 7–18 26 July 30 @ Seattle L 63–75 Katie Smith (13) Moore Smith Williams (6) Tamara Moore (4) Staples Center 7–19
August : 3–3 (Home: 2–2; Road: 1–1) Game Date Team Score High points High rebounds High assists Location Attendance Record 27 August 2 Phoenix W 75–51 Katie Smith (22) Svetlana Abrosimova (6) Schweitzer Smith (5) Target Center 8–19 28 August 4 Seattle W 73–60 Schweitzer Smith (17) Tamika Williams (9) Moore Smith (5) Target Center 9–19 29 August 6 @ New York W 52–49 Tamika Williams (13) Tamika Williams (7) Kristi Harrower (3) Madison Square Garden 10–19 30 August 9 Charlotte L 62–68 Katie Smith (24) Tamika Williams (8) Kristi Harrower (5) Target Center 10–20 31 August 11 Los Angeles L 58–69 Schweitzer Smith (13) Tamika Williams (6) Katie Smith (6) Target Center 10–21 32 August 13 @ Houston L 51–63 Tamara Moore (11) Tamika Williams (8) Katie Smith (4) Compaq Center 10–22
2002 season schedule

Season standings

Western Conference	W	L	PCT	Conf.	GB
Los Angeles Sparks ^x	25	7	.781	17–4	–
Houston Comets ^x	24	8	.750	16–5	1.0
Utah Starzz ^x	20	12	.625	12–9	5.0
Seattle Storm ^x	17	15	.531	10–11	8.0
Portland Fire ^o	16	16	.500	8–13	9.0
Sacramento Monarchs ^o	14	18	.438	8–13	11.0
Phoenix Mercury ^o	11	21	.344	7–14	14.0
Minnesota Lynx ^o	10	22	.313	6–15	15.0

Statistics

Legend
GP	Games played	GS	Games started	MPG	Minutes per game	RPG	Rebounds per game
APG	Assists per game	SPG	Steals per game	BPG	Blocks per game	PPG	Points per game
FG%	Field-goal percentage	3P%	3-point field-goal percentage	FT%	Free-throw percentage	TO	Turnovers per game
PF	Fouls per game		Team leader		League leader

Regular Season

Player	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
Katie Smith	31	31	36.7	.404	.330	.824	3.0	2.5	1.0	0.2	16.5
Tamika Williams	31	31	33.0	.561	.273	.583	7.4	1.6	1.4	0.4	10.1
Svetlana Abrosimova	27	27	29.8	.377	.333	.483	5.4	2.2	1.6	0.4	11.6
Betty Lennox	5	1	27.6	.208	.217	.600	3.2	3.2	1.0	0.0	6.2
Tamara Moore	26	20	25.1	.366	.382	.830	2.9	3.0	0.9	0.3	7.5
Lynn Pride	31	15	19.0	.385	.100	.471	3.3	1.4	0.8	0.8	4.0
Kristi Harrower	27	6	17.8	.389	.333	.400	1.7	2.0	0.4	0.0	3.6
Georgia Schweitzer	30	9	17.0	.483	.424	.867	1.7	1.2	0.5	0.2	4.1
Michele Van Gorp	22	13	16.0	.456	.286	.727	2.9	0.6	0.3	0.5	4.5
Shaunzinski Gortman	29	2	12.7	.361	.326	.778	2.1	0.7	0.4	0.2	3.1
Janell Burse	31	2	11.1	.373	.000	.583	1.9	0.2	0.2	0.4	2.7
Val Whiting-Raymond	6	3	8.7	.308	N/A	.417	1.5	0.8	0.3	0.3	2.2
Shanele Stires	9	0	2.4	.500	.500	.500	0.7	0.1	0.0	0.1	0.7

^‡Waived/Released during the season
^†Traded during the season
^≠Acquired during the season

References

1. "2002 Minnesota Lynx Transactions". Basketball-Reference.com. Retrieved September 5, 2024.