MANHATTAN, Kan. – For the fourth time in her career, K-State senior center Ayoka Lee has been named as one of 10 centers for the Lisa Leslie Award Watch List. The award recognizes the top centers in women’s college basketball each season.
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.
Fans can support their favorite players in the remaining rounds by participating in Fan Voting, presented by Dell Technologies, starting Friday, February 7, on hoophallawards.com. The Fan Vote will count as one committee vote during the finalist selection process.
The final 5 candidates for the award will be released to the public on a day-by-day basis starting the week of March 4, with voting set to follow on March 8. The list is fluid throughout the whole process and players have the ability to play themselves on or off our list until the winner is finally selected. The winner of this award, as well as presentation details, will be announced towards the end of the season.
The 2025 Lisa Leslie Award winner 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 Award (Point Guard), Ann Meyers Drysdale Award (Shooting Guard), Cheryl Miller Award (Small Forward) and the Katrina McClain Award (Power Forward), in addition to the Men’s Starting Five.
Lee adds Friday’s recognition to her preseason Associated Press All-America honorable mention selection, preseason All-America Second Team honors from The Athletic, selection to the Jersey Mike’s Naismith Women’s Player of the Year Watch List and being named the Big 12 Preseason Player of the Year by the league’s coaches and her unanimous selection to the preseason All-Big 12 team.
This season, Lee is averaging 16.0 points on a career-high .654 field goal percentage. She is also averaging a team-highs with 6.3 rebounds and 2.3 blocks per game.
In her career, Lee holds the school record and ranks sixth in Big 12 history for points scored with 2,482 and holds the school record for career scoring average at 18.8. She also owns the school records for career rebounds and ranks fifth in Big 12 history with 1,231 and career rebounding average at 9.3. Lee is also the school record holder and ranks fourth in Big 12 history for career blocks with 351 and owns the school record and ranks tied for third in Big 12 history for career double-doubles with 63. She is the first player in program history with 300 or more career blocks and 100 or more career steals.
Other candidates for the Leslie Award are: Audi Crooks (Iowa State), Clara Strack (Kentucky), Alexis Markowski (Nebraska), Raegan Beers (Oklahoma), Brooklyn Meyer (South Dakota State), Sedona Prince (TCU), Taylor Jones (Texas), Lauren Betts (UCLA) and Rayah Marshall (USC).
(12/10) K-State returns to action on Saturday at 2 p.m., as the Wildcats face (25/rv) Oklahoma State at Gallagher-Iba Arena in Stillwater.