Griffin was rewarded at the club’s 2015-16 presentation night for a brilliant season in which she averaged 17.8 points, 10.0 rebounds and 1.9 assists in her 22 games.

The 28-year-old’s points and rebounds averages were the best of her four-year career with the Spirit.

However, Spirit coach Simon Pritchard says Griffin’s numbers only tell part of the story of her impact with the Spirit.

“The big thing that I saw from Kelsey throughout the course of the season was the growth in her leadership,” Pritchard said.

“Without having a leadership group and instead using the Standout Advantage model, Kelsey has really emerged as a leader both by example and teaching the younger girls with her knowledge and experience during the course of a game.

“So that has been a really big growth in her game… she’s really focused on being able to give back to the rest of the group to make the team better.”

The Alaskan-born Griffin – who became an Australian citizen during the season – also won the Players Award, which was voted on 3-2-1 by the players.

Meanwhile, Kerryn Harrington received the Coaches Award.

“Kerryn came in with a view that she would be in a supporting role off the bench, but she came into the starting line-up and did a good job playing both the one and two spots,” Pritchard said.

“We used her a lot in a defensive role up the floor and she certainly played a lot better than what we expected of her and that’s why she has won the coaches award.”

Harrington – who started in 17 games – averaged 7.0 points, 1.7 rebounds and 1.8 assists per game.

Harrington returned to Bendigo this season after stints with Adelaide, Bulleen and the AIS.