Mar 7, 2025; Kansas City, MO, USA; A general view of a new court for 2025 before a matchup between the Kansas State Wildcats and the West Virginia Mountaineers at T-Mobile Center. Mandatory Credit: Amy Kontras-Imagn Images Amy Kontras-Imagn Images

Mercury Player Wins Big 12 Player Of The Year

Originally posted on Phoenix Mercury On SI
By Davion Moore | Last updated Feb 21, 2026 10:00 AM ET

The Big 12 is a special conference, and today, teams like TCU, Texas Tech and Baylor are flourishing. Iowa State is having a solid season, and its star Audi Crooks is second in scoring. That includes all conferences, and the only player who averages more is Mikayla Blakes.

The conference has had some talented players, and some of them have won Big 12 Player of the Year. That is a prestigious award, and Tamecka Dixon made history as she won the first-ever award. Since then, others have followed in her footsteps.

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Some of those players have ties to the Phoenix Mercury, and the first was Nicole Ohlde. She won the award twice, and while she started her WNBA career with the Minnesota Lynx, she joined the Mercury a few years later.

Ohlde was traded to Phoenix, and the Mercury sent Kelly Miller and LaToya Sanders to Minnesota. When she came to Phoenix, Ohlde won a championship. That was the year the Mercury beat the Indiana Fever to win it all.

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Since Ohlde's Player of the Year win, other Mercury players won it, as Brittney Griner won the award three times. She had some successful college seasons, and she became the first pick of the 2013 WNBA Draft.

When it comes to Big 12 Player of the Year, the last player to win it was Hailey Van Lith. However, the last player with Mercury ties was Ashley Joens, and she won the award in 2022-23.

Joens attended Iowa State, and she had some excellent seasons. In her final season, which was the year she won Big 12 Player of the Year, Joens averaged 21.5 points, 9.7 rebounds, two assists and 1.1 steals.

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Joens heads to Phoenix

After that season, Joens was drafted by the Dallas Wings. She was a second-round pick, and later on, she was waived. She signed with the Las Vegas Aces, and she played two games with them. She returned to the Wings for some games, and she joined the Mercury after that.

Joens had her best game in her time with the Mercury, and she had nine points an Eastern Conference team. The Mercury lost to the Connecticut Sun, and Joens contributed off the bench.

The Iowa State star was a college star, and she is the most-recent Big 12 Player of the Year with Mercury ties.

This article first appeared on Phoenix Mercury On SI and was syndicated with permission.

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