San Antonio Stars | |||
---|---|---|---|
|
|||
Conference | Western | ||
Leagues | WNBA | ||
Founded | 1997 (as Utah) | ||
History |
Utah Starzz 1997–2002 San Antonio Silver Stars 2003–2013 San Antonio Stars 2014–present |
||
Arena | AT&T Center | ||
Location | San Antonio, Texas | ||
Team colors | Silver, black, white |
||
Main sponsor | H-E-B | ||
General manager | Ruth Riley | ||
Head coach | Vickie Johnson | ||
Assistant(s) | James Wade | ||
Ownership | Julianna Holt | ||
Championships | 0 | ||
Conference titles | 1 (2008) | ||
Retired numbers | 25 - Becky Hammon | ||
Website | stars |
The San Antonio Stars are a professional basketball team based in San Antonio, Texas, playing in the Western Conference in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). The team was founded in Salt Lake City, Utah before the league's inaugural 1997 season began; the team moved to San Antonio before the 2003 season. The team is owned by Peter Holt, who also owns the Stars' NBA counterpart, the San Antonio Spurs.
The Stars have qualified for the WNBA Playoffs in seven of their fourteen years in San Antonio. The franchise has been home to many high-quality players such as all-star point guard Becky Hammon, solid power-forward Sophia Young, former first-overall draft pick Ann Wauters, and seven-foot-two-inch center Margo Dydek. In 2008, the Silver Stars went to the WNBA Finals but they were swept by Detroit.
In January 2014 the team dropped the "silver" from San Antonio Silver Stars (the name it had since the team first moved to San Antonio) and became the San Antonio Stars.
Due to renovations at AT&T Center, the Stars played at Freeman Coliseum for the 2015 season. For the 2016 season, the Stars have moved back to the AT&T Center after the renovations to the arena were completed.
One of the eight original WNBA teams, the Utah Starzz (partially named after the old ABA team, the Utah Stars, but with the zz at the end like the Utah Jazz) never met the same success as their (former) counterpart in the NBA, the Utah Jazz. They held the distinction of having the worst record in the WNBA in 1997 and were the first team to select in the 1998 WNBA Draft. With their selection, they picked 7 ft. 2 in. center Margo Dydek, who easily became the tallest player in WNBA history. Unfortunately, the pickup of Dydek did little to help their cause and they again finished near the bottom of the league in the 1998 & 1999 seasons. The Starzz finally posted a winning record in 2000, but did not make the playoffs. In 2001, the Utah Starzz made it to the playoffs for the first time, but they were quickly swept in the first round by the Sacramento Monarchs. In 2002, the Starzz made it to the playoffs again, and this time beat the Houston Comets in the Western Conference Semifinals 2 games to 1. Their playoff run ended in the Western Finals, however, as they were swept aside by the eventual champs, the Los Angeles Sparks.