Former Hawkeye Smith among WNBA's best

Former University of Iowa standout  Tangela Smith is one of 30 finalists for the WNBA's top 15 players of all time award.

The WNBA is celebrating its 15

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season and the award was created to honor the best players since the league's inception.

Smith was drafted by the Sacramento Monarchs as the 12

^th

overall pick in  1998 and has spent 13 seasons in the league.  She played for the Monarchs (1998-04), the Charlotte Sting (2005-06) and the Phoenix Mercury (2007-10). She is playing for the Indiana Fever this season.

Smith is one of just seven players in WNBA history to record 4,000 career points and entered the 2011 season seventh in all-time scoring with 4,123 points.  She also is eighth in WNBA history with 1,856 rebounds.  Smith was a 2006 WNBA All-Star with Charlotte and has played in every regular season game in seven of the last nine seasons.  She ranks in the top 10 in WNBA history in six career categories, including points, rebounds, blocks, field goals made, field goals attempted and minutes played.

While at Iowa, Smith was named Big Ten Player of the Year in 1998 and won the Chicago Tribune Silver Basketball in 1996.  She was a first team All-Big Ten pick in both 1996 and 1998 and helped lead the Hawkeyes to Big Ten regular season titles in 1996 and 1998 along with a Big Ten tournament championship in 1997.  She ranks first in school history in blocks (235), fourth in rebounding (859) and seventh in scoring (1,598).

The WNBA top 15 nominees were selected by a panel of media members and basketball experts.  Fans can vote at

www.wnba.com/top15players through July 14.  Voting will also be conducted among select national media as well as current players and coaches.  The top 15 will be announced at the All-Star Game July 23 in San Antonio.