MANHATTAN – For the second straight season, K-State junior center Ayoka Lee has been selected as one of 20 candidates for the 2022 Lisa Leslie Award Watch List on Friday.
The annual award is in its fifth year of recognizing the top centers in women’s NCAA Division I college basketball.
Presented by the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA), the Lisa Leslie Award is named after the three-time All-American, 1994 National Player of the Year and Class of 2015 Hall of Famer.
College basketball fans are encouraged to participate in Fan Voting presented by Dell Technologies in each of the three rounds at hoophallawards.com. In late January, the watch list of 20 players for the 2022 Lisa Leslie Award will be narrowed to just 10. In late February, five finalists will be presented to Ms. Leslie and the Hall of Fame’s selection committee where a winner will be selected.
The winner of the 2022 Lisa Leslie Center 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.
Lee, a 2022 All-America candidate, enters her junior season as the top returning shot blocker in the Big 12, as well as the number four returning rebounder and the number five returning scorer. She needs 66 points to achieve 1,000 points in her career. When she reaches the 1,000-point mark, Lee will become the fifth player in program history with 1,000 or more career points, 500 or more career rebounds and 100 or more career blocks.
At the conclusion of the 2020-21 season, Lee was a 2021 WBCA All-America honorable mention recipient and a preseason candidate for every national award including the Wade Trophy, Naismith Trophy, Wooden Award and Lisa Leslie Award.
She completed the 2020-21 regular season with a career-high 19.1 points per game (478 points). Her scoring average last season was the highest by a Wildcat since Brittany Chambers set the school record at 21.0 points per game in 2012-13.
Lee became the first player in the history of K-State women’s basketball to register 450 or more points, 200 or more rebounds and 45 or more blocks in her first two seasons.
The product of Byron, Minnesota, also recorded a career-best field goal percentage of .621 and a career-best free throw percentage of .812. She led the Big 12 and ranks third in the nation in field goal percentage. She was the only player in NCAA Division I with a field goal percentage of .600 or better and a free throw percentage of .800 or better.
Lee recorded 10 double-doubles, including four straight to conclude the season. Among her 10 double-doubles, Lee registered a 37-point, 18-rebound effort against Oklahoma on January 31. Her 37 points set the school record for points in a Big 12 Conference game, were the fifth-most points scored in any game in school history and the most since Chambers set the school-record of 42 against Texas Southern on March 21, 2013.
In Big 12 play, Lee was even better as she ranked fifth for scoring average with 19.8 points per game and led the league in field goal percentage at .629. She was the only player in Big 12 play to card a field goal percentage of 60.0 percent or better.
On the boards in Big 12 action, Lee pulled in 8.56 per game and ranked sixth in the league. She ranked fourth in the Big 12 in offensive rebounds with 3.11 per game.
Among the 20 players selected as watch list candidates, Lee is one of two players from the Big 12 Conference on the watch list, as Queen Egbo of Baylor was also selected.
Other candidates for the award are: Sara Hamson of BYU, Jenna Staiti of Georgia, Mackenzie Holmes of Indiana, Monika Czinano of Iowa, Hannah Gusters of LSU, Shakira Austin of Ole Miss, Jessika Carter of Mississippi State, Elissa Cunane of North Carolina State, Aliyah Boston of South Carolina, Kamilla Cardoso of South Carolina, Fran Belibi of Stanford, Tamari Key of Tennessee, Ila Lane of UC Santa Barbara, Olivia Nelson-Ododa of UConn, Eleah Parker of Virginia, Elizabeth Kitley of Virginia Tech, Nancy Mulkey of Washington and Bella Murekatete of Washington State.
Lee and K-State will play four games this season against teams which feature a Lisa Leslie Award candidate.
K-State will begin exhibition play on Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m., against Washburn. To purchase tickets, visit kstatesports.com/tickets or call (800) 221-CATS.
Sunday’s game will be broadcast by Big 12 Now on ESPN+ and will be available for free at kstatesports.com.