NEW YORK – Tiffany Hayes of the Atlanta Dream and Sylvia Fowles of the Minnesota Lynx today were named the WNBA’s Eastern and Western Conference Players of the Month, respectively, for games played in May.  Hayes won her first Player of the Month award.  Fowles raised her career total to six, the third-highest mark in league history behind Tina Charles (eight) and Maya Moore (seven).

Atlanta went an Eastern Conference-best 4-1 in May behind Hayes, who shared the scoring lead among East players with the Washington Mystics’ Elena Delle Donne (19.8 ppg each).  A sixth-year pro, Hayes finished with at least 16 points in each of Atlanta’s five games and led her team outright or shared the team lead in scoring each time.  The 5-10 guard also averaged 5.0 rebounds, 1.8 assists and 1.4 steals per game.

Hayes opened the season with 19 points and six rebounds in an 81-74 win at the Connecticut Sun on May 13, followed by a game-high 23 points to go with six rebounds and five assists in a 91-83 road victory over the Chicago Sky on May 19.  Her highest-scoring game of the month came on May 27, when she tallied 24 points and added six rebounds as Atlanta defeated the defending WNBA champion Los Angeles Sparks 75-73.

Fowles, the 2015 WNBA Finals MVP, tipped off the season by winning consecutive Western Conference Player of the Week honors.  The 6-6 center sparked Minnesota to a league-best 6-0 record as the Lynx extended its winning streak in May to 23 games dating to 2012 (5-0 in 2012, 6-0 in 2014 and 6-0 in 2016).

For the month, Fowles paced all West players in rebounding (10.7 rpg) and field goal percentage (.611, 44-of-72).  She also ranked fourth in scoring (20.0 ppg) and second in blocks (2.3 bpg) and steals (2.0 spg).  The 10^th-year pro paced the Lynx in scoring in five games and registered four point-rebound double-doubles.

Fowles recorded the first of her double-doubles in a season-opening 70-61 win over Chicago on May 14, contributing 26 points and 10 rebounds to go with four steals and three blocks.  Her game highs of 27 points and 13 rebounds led the Lynx past the Dallas Wings 89-87 on May 20.  Three days later, she posted game highs of 21 points, 13 rebounds and five blocks in an 80-78 victory against the Sun.

Other candidates for the Eastern and Western Conference Players of the Month were Atlanta’s Layshia Clarendon, Los Angeles’ Nneka Ogwumike, the New York Liberty’s Epiphanny Prince, the Phoenix Mercury’s Brittney Griner, the Seattle Storm’s Jewell Loyd and Breanna Stewart, and Washington’s Elena Delle Donne.

For more information on this year’s WNBA Players of the Month, visit www.wnba.com/awards.