Key Named Finalist For Lisa Leslie Award

The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and the Women's Basketball Coaches Association announced Friday the five finalists for the 2022 Lisa Leslie Award, and Tennessee's Tamari Key is among them.

Named after the three-time All-American,1994 National Player of the Year and Class of 2015 Hall of Famer, the annual award in its fifth year recognizes the top centers in women's NCAA Division I college basketball.

The other finalists are Ayoka Lee (Kansas State), Elissa Cunane (NC State), Aliyah Boston (South Carolina) and Elizabeth Kitley (Virginia Tech).

Key, a 6-6 junior center from Cary, N.C., is averaging 10.3 points, 8.1 rebounds and a nation-leading 3.7 blocks per game in 31 contests for the Lady Vols. She is connecting on a robust 60.4 percent from the field and has recorded 10 double-doubles this season and a triple-double that made her the first UT player to card two such efforts in a career.

With 115 blocks in 2021-22, Key broke Kelley Cain's previous school season record of 113 set in 2009-10. It took Cain 33 games to hit that mark, while Key matched her in 30 and made the standard her own in contest No. 31. Key ranks No. 5 on the SEC's all-time single-season list.

The Naismith Defensive Player of the Year candidate, All-SEC Second Team recipient and SEC All-Defensive Team honoree also sits in second place on UT's career blocks list with 273 swats (in only 87 games), standing just two away from Candace Parker's school record of 275, set from 2005-08 in 110 games.

In 2021-22, Key has recorded four new entries into Tennessee's single-game blocks records, including totals of 11, 10, 10 and seven in contests this season. She now has seven marks in UT's top-10 and owns the No. 2, No. 3 through 6 and No. 9 top swats totals in school history.

"Lisa Leslie is one of the most admired players in the game having succeeded at every level," said John L. Doleva, President and CEO of the Basketball Hall of Fame. "Her insights will be greatly appreciated as the winner is decided in the coming weeks. We also encourage fans to cast their votes and make their opinions on this year's best players heard."

A national committee of top college basketball personnel determined the watch list of 20 student-athletes in November, which was narrowed to 10 candidates in February and now just five finalists. This month, the finalists will be presented to Ms. Leslie and the Hall of Fame's selection committee. The winner of the 2022 Lisa Leslie Center of the Year Award will be determined by a combination of fan votes and input from the Basketball Hall of Fame's selection committee. Naismith Starting Five Fan Voting presented by Dell Technologies will go live on March 11 at hoophallawards.com.

"Having an annual award established by the Hall of Fame that bears my name is a tremendous honor," said Lisa Leslie, Basketball Hall of Fame Class of 2015. "I truly enjoy the process of watching our candidates play throughout the season and evaluating talent alongside our esteemed committee. I know these ladies will be taking their game to new levels this postseason."

The winner of the 2022 Lisa Leslie Award will be presented on a to-be-determined date, along with the other four members of the Women's Starting Five. Additional awards being presented include the Nancy Lieberman Point Guard Award, the Ann Meyers Drysdale Shooting Guard Award, the Cheryl Miller Small Forward Award and the Katrina McClain Power Forward Award, in addition to the Men's Starting Five. Additional information about the award presentation, including date and time, will be released in the coming weeks.

For more information on the 2022 Lisa Leslie Award and the latest updates, log onto www.hoophallawards.com and follow @hoophall and #LeslieAward on Twitter and Instagram.

About Lisa Leslie
Widely regarded as the best player in the country during her senior year of high school, Leslie decided to play basketball close to home at the University of Southern California. While at USC, she set Pac-10 records for scoring, rebounding and blocked shots, earning All-Pac-10 honors each of her four seasons.

In 1991, she was named national freshman of the year and went on to earn All-America honors the following three seasons. In her senior year, she won multiple national player of the year awards, including the Naismith College Player of the Year and the WBCA Player of the Year.

In the summer of 1997, the Women's National Basketball Association was launched and with it, Lisa Leslie became a household name. The Los Angeles Sparks landed the hometown star, who would go on to help them win two world championships. As an eight-time WNBA All-Star and three-time MVP, Leslie became the face of the league. In 2002, she became the first player to dunk in a WNBA game.

Leslie retired as the all-time leading rebounder in WNBA history and was an eight-time First Team All-WNBA performer. Internationally, Leslie won four gold medals in Olympic competition. Since retiring from professional play, Leslie has worked as a sports commentator and analyst for several networks, while exploring fashion modeling and acting as well.

University of Tennessee Athletics

Players Mentioned

Tamari Key

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