There are not many women--or men--who can look WNBA star Lisa Leslie in the eyes. At six foot, five inches tall, she is a formidable presence, whether it's on the basketball court, on the modeling runway, or in her fledgling acting career.

One of those who can stand face to face to Leslie, however, is her mom. Measuring in at just two inches shorter than her daughter, Christine Leslie-Espinoza can--and has--looked her daughter in the eyes on many occasions.

And, earlier this winter, Leslie had the chance to thank her mother for all those "don't give me any nonsense" looks only mothers can give.

On February 7, Leslie received the Flo Hyman Award, an honor presented on National Girls and Women in Sports Day by the Women's Sports Foundation. The award is named for volleyball great Flo Hyman, who died tragically in 1986 during an international match, and is given annually to a female athlete who captures Hyman's "dignity, spirit, and commitment to excellence."

One of the reasons Leslie was honored with the award was for her work as the Spokesperson for Sears WNBA Breast Health Awareness program, an activity in which she has been joined by her mom. The two have appeared in promotions to help educate women about the disease and its prevention.

Leslie often cites her mother as her role model (along with former LA Laker James Worthy) and says her mother has always been her greatest form of support. Leslie says her mother taught her "that I could achieve anything I wanted if I worked hard enough," she told USA Today after receiving the award.

Another thing Leslie has thanked her mom for is teaching her to be proud of her height. During a WNBA chat last summer, when a caller asked Leslie, "Do you think you would be here today if your mom hadn't encourage you to be proud of your height?" she replied: "I think I would be here and I think I would be playing basketball. But I don't think I would have been able to stick with it and been proud of who I am and be feminine out on the court. I think I would have folded to the peer pressure if I didn't have my mom to encourage me to be me and be proud of how tall I am."

Leslie's exploits on the basketball court are well-known. Her name first hit the national media scene when she scored 101 points during just one half of a high school basketball game. That was at Morningside High in Los Angeles, where she helped her team win two state championships and racked up many individual honors. (She also played volleyball and ran track.)

She was heavily recruited by college coaches nationwide, and chose University of Southern California, a strong program at the time. She was an All-America three times and was the unanimous selection as the National Women's Player of the Year in 1994. Post college, she has been the starting center for the USA national teams that have won two Olympic gold medals and has been the most dominant center in the WNBA since its inception four years ago.

But what is less well known is Leslie's work on the breast cancer awareness team with her mother. Although the Leslie-Espinoza family has not had a personal tragedy with breast cancer, Christine has had two lumps in her breasts, which were benign, removed.

Leslie cites her mother's scare with the disease as one reason they chose to get involved. During the WNBA chat, Leslie said, "No one in my family has ever had breast cancer, but being a part of breast health awareness has helped my family learn more about it."

For Leslie-Espinoza, this work is a second career. She retired from her first occupation as a truck driver after many years--and she is a mother of six. She is also currently dealing with the death of her husband, Thomas Cruz Espinoza, which occurred in January. He died of liver cancer.

"He was my mother's best friend," Leslie told USA Today. "It's very fitting for her to be recognized now after all she's been through. She's been really strong and dedicated to him, but this helps get her mind off of everything."

Article written by Gball Editor Eleanor Frankel