Editing Houston Comets (section)

===The years of change and rebuilding (2001–2006)===
The Comets suffered two blows before the 2001 season--Cooper retired and Swoopes tore her ACL. Despite playing without the two biggest stars from their title runs, Houston made the playoffs with a 19–13 record before falling in the first round to the eventual champion [[Los Angeles Sparks]]. In 2002, Swoopes won her second MVP and the Comets finished 24–8, but lost to the [[Utah Starzz]] in 3 games. 

In 2003, they qualified to the playoffs for the 7th straight year, but they lost in the first round to the Sacramento Monarchs in 3 games. They missed the playoffs for the first time in franchise history with a record of 13–21 in 2004, but returned in 2005 with a 19–15 record, finishing 3rd. In the first round, the Comets knocked out the 2004 defending champion [[Seattle Storm]] in 3 games, but lost in the conference finals to the [[Sacramento Monarchs]] in a sweep, which Sacramento later became WNBA Champions in 2005. Houston would return to the playoffs with an 18–16 record, but lost to the 2005 defending champion Sacramento Monarchs in another sweep. 2006 was the last playoff appearance for the Houston Comets. 

After the Comets' season ended in 2006, the team went through a major front-office changes during the off-season.  In October 2006, team owner Leslie Alexander – who also owned the [[Houston Rockets]] -- announced he was selling the Comets, and longtime head coach [[Van Chancellor]] resigned in January 2007.