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Los Angeles Sparks guard Kristi Toliver wins 2012 WNBA Most Improved Player Award

The WNBA announced tonight that Los Angeles Sparks guard Kristi Toliver has won the 2012 WNBA Most Improved Player Award in something of a landslide.

Toliver won 24 of 41 media votes (58%) from a panel of national and local sportswriters and broadcasters, more than triple the next closest candidate (Phoenix Mercury forward DeWanna Bonner, 7 votes).

Toliver set career-highs in a number of statistical categories this season, but the most significant given her style of play was arguably her shooting efficiency, which improved from 42.3% in 2011 to 49.1% in 2012. That improved shooting efficiency was a primary reason why she made one of the biggest statistical improvements of any player in the league this season.

We went over the pros and cons of Toliver as a candidate at mid-season and things pretty much held to form to finish the regular season, but the bottom line is that she did take a major step forward.

The full voting results are as follows:

Name Team Votes
Kristi Toliver L.A. Sparks 24
DeWanna Bonner Phoenix Mercury 7
Epiphanny Prince Chicago Sky 6
Rebekkah Brunson Minnesota Lynx 2
Kara Lawson Connecticut Sun 2