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After spending many years in the wilderness of women's basketball, Cynthia Cooper rocketed to fame in the first season of the new Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) that began play in 1997. She lived up to her reputation as a hot scorer, established over a decade of play on the European circuit, by winning the scoring title, while also leading her team, the Houston Comets, to the first WNBA championship title. "She is absolutely one of the best players in the world right now," fellow Comet player Wanda Guyton told the Houston Chronicle late in the 1997 season. These accolades were echoed by an opponent, New York Liberty guard Vickie Johnson, who in Sports Illustrated called Cooper "the best all- around player I've ever faced."...

Her first season in the WNBA started slowly, but soon Cooper's shooting slump ended thanks to her practice regimen of some 300 to 500 practice shots a day. Her confidence as a player was especially buoyed by the coach, Van Chancellor, who in July told Cooper that he wanted her to be the prime go-to player on the team, according to Sports Illustrated. She responded to this vote of confidence in the next game with a 30-point outburst against the Sacramento Monarchs, followed by 32 points against the Phoenix Mercury and a 44-point league-leading output in a rematch against the Monarchs. She shot a staggering .792 percent beyond the three-point arc during these three games. In the thirteen contests after her discussion with Chancellor, Cooper scored 30 or more points seven times, all of the games victories for the Comets.

Saving her best for last and for when it mattered most, Cooper was a dominant force in the WNBA playoff series. She averaged 28.0 points a game in her team's wins over Charlotte and New York as she carried the Comets to the Championship title. Her performance during these crucial games was even more outstanding considering that she was playing with a deep thigh bruise at the time. Her 25- point performance in the final game, a 65-51 victory over New York, earned her Most Valuable Player honors for that game, while her overall season performance made her a shoo-in for Most Valuable Player for the season. Her achievement was especially impressive considering that, at age 34, she was among the oldest players in the league, with her most athletic years well behind her.

In the fall of 1997, Cooper and other WNBA all-stars participated in an international tour in Germany, Italy, and France. She also cashed in on her new fame by signing a two-year, $200,000 contract as a spokeswoman for General Motors. Part of her role with General Motors was to help raise money for breast cancer research. In the second year of her arrangement with General Motors, Cooper will begin working in an advertising and marketing trainee program to help her prepare for a possible new line of work after retiring from basketball.

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