LAS VEGAS (AP) — Aces guard Tiffany Hayes earned the WNBA Sixth Player of the Year award Friday, the league announced.
Hayes received 38 of 67 votes from a national media panel. New York's Leonie Fiebich finished second with 21 votes. Shatori Walker-Kimbrough of Washington and Marina Mabrey of Connecticut were the next two in the voting.
It’s the fifth time in the past six seasons that a Las Vegas player has won the award.
In her 12th WNBA season and first with the Aces, Hayes played in 33 of Las Vegas’ 40 regular-season games, coming off the bench a career-high 28 times and starting five games. To be eligible for the award, a player must come off the bench in more games then they start.
Hayes averaged 9.5 points, 2.8 rebounds and 2.1 assists this season. She also made 40% of her 3-point attempts. She joined the Aces a few weeks into the season six months after she had announced her retirement from the WNBA.
Hayes received the award on the court before the the Aces played the Liberty in Game 3 of the WNBA semifinals.
AP WNBA: https://apnews.com/hub/wnba-basketball
New York Liberty's Courtney Vandersloot (22) shoots over Las Vegas Aces' Tiffany Hayes (15) during the first half of a WNBA basketball semifinal game, Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
Las Vegas Aces' Tiffany Hayes (15) passes away from New York Liberty's Courtney Vandersloot (22) during the second half of a WNBA basketball semifinal game, Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024, in New York. The Liberty won 88-84. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
A Ukrainian drone strike killed one person and wounded three others in the Russian city of Voronezh, local officials said Sunday.
A young woman died overnight in a hospital intensive care unit after debris from a drone fell on a house during the attack on Saturday, regional Gov. Alexander Gusev said on Telegram.
Three other people were wounded and more than 10 apartment buildings, private houses and a high school were damaged, he said, adding that air defenses shot down 17 drones over Voronezh. The city is home to just over 1 million people and lies some 250 kilometers (155 miles) from the Ukrainian border.
The attack came the day after Russia bombarded Ukraine with hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles overnight into Friday, killing at least four people in the capital Kyiv, according to Ukrainian officials.
For only the second time in the nearly four-year war, Russia used a powerful new hypersonic missile that struck western Ukraine in a clear warning to Kyiv and NATO.
The intense barrage and the launch of the nuclear-capable Oreshnik missile followed reports of major progress in talks between Ukraine and its allies on how to defend the country from further aggression by Moscow if a U.S.-led peace deal is struck.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Saturday in his nightly address that Ukrainian negotiators “continue to communicate with the American side.”
Chief negotiator Rustem Umerov was in contact with U.S. partners Saturday, he said.
Separately, Ukraine’s General Staff said Russia targeted Ukraine with 154 drones overnight into Sunday and 125 were shot down.
Follow the AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
This photo provided by the Ukrainian Security Service on Friday, Jan. 9, 2026, shows a fragment believed to be a part of a Russian Oreshnik intermediate range hypersonic ballistic missile that hit the Lviv region. (Ukrainian Security Service via AP)
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy, second left, listens to British Defense Secretary John Healey during their meeting in Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Danylo Antoniuk)
