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Anne Donovan, Cheryl Reeve, Dawn Staley and the biggest miracle in WNBA history

By Howard Megdal

3 Jul 2001: Head Coach Anne Donovan of the Charlotte Sting talking things over with her staff during the WNBA game against the New York Liberty at the Charlotte Coliseum in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Sting defeated the Liberty 66-61. NOTE TO USER: It is expressly understood that the only rights Allsport are offering to license in this Photograph are one-time, non-exclusive editorial rights. No advertising or commercial uses of any kind may be made of Allsport photos. User acknowledges that it is aware that Allsport is an editorial sports agency and that NO RELEASES OF ANY TYPE ARE OBTAINED from the subjects contained in the photographs.Mandatory Credit: Craig Jones /Allsport
3 Jul 2001: Head Coach Anne Donovan of the Charlotte Sting talking things over with her staff during the WNBA game against the New York Liberty at the Charlotte Coliseum in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Sting defeated the Liberty 66-61. NOTE TO USER: It is expressly understood that the only rights Allsport are offering to license in this Photograph are one-time, non-exclusive editorial rights. No advertising or commercial uses of any kind may be made of Allsport photos. User acknowledges that it is aware that Allsport is an editorial sports agency and that NO RELEASES OF ANY TYPE ARE OBTAINED from the subjects contained in the photographs.Mandatory Credit: Craig Jones /Allsport /
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The greatest Cinderella story in WNBA history came to an end shortly thereafter, just short of a championship. The Sting had squeaked by—the Sparks, their finals opponent, clinched their berth with a 93-62 win over the Monarchs, with league MVP Lisa Leslie putting up 35 points, 16 rebounds and seven blocked shots.

1 Sep 2001: Lisa Leslie
1 Sep 2001: Lisa Leslie /

This time, there would be no miracle. After a 75-66 Los Angeles win in Charlotte to kick off the best-of-three, the season ended with the anticlimax of an 82-54 loss at the Forum.

“It just really wasn’t good,” Reeve said. “It was the best of three still at that time in the final, so, we lost Game 1 at home and then lost Game 2 and had confetti dropped on our heads. So.”

Unfortunately, what should have been the beginning of something ended soon thereafter, betrayed by the transient and fleeting nature of ownership in Charlotte. Just before the 2002 WNBA season began, George Shinn moved the Hornets to New Orleans, and cut ties with the Sting, relegating them to league ownership.

“They took the franchise and left,” Reeve said. “You can’t make this stuff up. There were moving trucks at the training facility and taking the stuff and leaving. It was kind of hard to watch, kind of hard to go through. I started to wonder: is this really where I want to be? The WNBA, is this the kind of stuff that it’s going to be like? The league hadn’t made any comments about it and so we all kind of read the writing on the wall going, this doesn’t look good.”

The Sting finished 18-14 in 2002, lost to Chamique Holdsclaw’s Washington Mystics in the playoffs, and then the team began dispersing to the corners of the basketball world, coming to define much of what’s happened in women’s basketball ever since.

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