It was called the American Basketball League or ABL. The big difference between it and the WNBA was that the ABL was an independent league with no subsidies that played in smaller markets not covered by the NBA. And it turns out both came about after the US women's basketball team won the gold medal at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. Pretty much for the same reason the MLS came about after the 1994 US World Cup. Basically expanding into new markets.

Now I recall having watched some of the early games although I could not remember which league they were from, mostly because of the hype. And I gotta say it wouldn't have mattered because the game quality wasn't that good. But at least the WNBA had the NBA while the ABL was pretty much on its own. And not surprisingly the ABL folded by 1998 which is why many of you never heard of it. But I'll give it merit. As flawed as it was, they actually had the balls (no pun intended) to go at it alone. Unfortunately though, even today they wouldn't make it without subsidies. Or basically, they would depend on men.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Basketball_League_(1996%E2%80%9398)