by RENALDO
The campaign to get Jonquel Jones selected to the 2017 WNBA All-Star Game is off to a successful start.
Jones is listed among the top vote-getters overall and within their respective conferences after early fan returns of WNBA All-Star Voting 2017 presented by Verizon.
The second-year Connecticut Sun forward is averaging 15.3 points and a league leading 12.2 rebounds per game. She received a total of 10, 585 votes in the Eastern Conference.
Also in the East, Jones is joined in the frontcourt by Ella Delle Donne of the Washington Mystics who garnered 19, 280 votes. Della Donne was the league’s 2015 MVP and a three-time All-Star selection. She was previously the leading vote-getter in the 2013 and 2015 All-Star selections.
The remainder of the East-leading vote getters include former MVP Tina Charles of the New York Liberty (12,055), The next leading Eastern vote getter in the frontcourt is Candice Dupree of the Indiana Fever (4,965).
East guards contenders include Tiffany Hayes of the Atlanta Dream (4,288), Tiffany Mitchell of Indiana (4,202), Kristi Toliver of Washington (3,498) and Sugar Rodgers of New York (3,480).
The 2014 WNBA MVP, Maya Moore of the Minnesota Lynx leads all with 19,949 votes.
Nine-time All-Star Sue Bird (16,139) and new WNBA career points leader Diana Turasi of Phoenix (15,207) lead the West guards, followed by two-time All-Star Skylar Diggins-Smith of the Dallas Wings (11,462) and six-time All-Star Seimone Augustus (11,198) of Minnesota.
The first, 15 days of fan voting generated more than double the amount of votes cast (376,820) compared to the same period, in 2015 (180,762). No All-Star Game was held in 2016 due to the Summer Olympics.
The announcement was made during the Sun’s commemoration of their 15th anniversary and a 96-89 win over the Seattle Storm Thursday night at the Mohegan Sun Arena.
Jones finished with 13 points, 10 rebounds, and two blocks.
WNBA All-Star Voting 2017, presented by Verizon, opened in early June. The Verizon WNBA All-Star 2017 will be played on Saturday (July 22) at KeyArena, home of the Seattle Storm. The game will be broadcast on ABC at 3:30pm.
To vote for Jones, the Bahamian public can take to social media apps Facebook and Twittter and post “#WNBAVote Jonquel Jones” to officially vote for the Grand Bahamian native.
All-Star voting ends on July 6 and starters will be announced live on ESPN July 11 during the noon edition of Sportscenter. WNBA head coaches will select reserves for both conferences, which will be announced July 18, live on ESPN2.
