Phoenix Mercury star Diana Taurasi has been named the 2008 WNBA Peak Performer for scoring, boasting a league-best 24.1-point per game scoring average, the club announced today. She outpaced her teammate Cappie Pondexter (21.2 ppg) and Minnesota Lynx guard Seimone Augustus (19.1 ppg) to lead all scorers this season.

Taurasi continued to prove herself as one of the league’s most electric scorers in 2008, earning her second career Peak Performer award. She also won the scoring title in 2006, setting a WNBA record with her 25.3-point scoring average. The fifth-year professional was named Player of the Week four times in 2008, the most of any player in the league, bringing her career total to nine.

The UCONN product and former No. 1 draft pick turned in the second-best performance in WNBA history for both single-season scoring average and total points, ranking behind the records she set in 2006 (25.3 ppg and 860 total points). She scored 30 or more points 10 times this season, including a season-high 37 at Seattle on June 11, and tallied over 20 points in 26 of 34 games. On July 8 against Houston, she became the fastest player to reach the 3,000-point plateau in league history, besting 2007 Peak Performer and WNBA MVP Lauren Jackson’s previous record by 11 games. Taurasi already ranks in the top 20 for all-time total points in a WNBA career (3,398) and in the top three for all-time scoring average (20.3 ppg).

Along with Taurasi, Los Angeles forward Candace Parker takes home the Peak Performer award for rebounding with her 9.5-rebound average while Connecticut’s Lindsay Whalen received the honor for her league-best 5.4 assists per game average.