Background
Phillips, Tari was born on March 6, 1969.
Phillips, Tari was born on March 6, 1969.
Born in Orlando, Florida, Phillips attended the University of Georgia during her first three college years, and helped its Lady Bulldogs team to the National Collegiate Athletic Association Regional Finals in 1987 and 1988. She transferred during her senior year to the University of Central Florida, where she graduated in 1991.
She currently plays with Acer ERG Priolo, an Italian First Rate (at Lloyd's) team based in Priolo Gargallo, Sicily. She played for the Seattle Reign and the Colorado Xplosion in the American Basketball League (1996-1998). She made the American Basketball League"s Western Conference All-Star team in both 1997 and 1998, and was named the Most Valuable Player of the 1997 All-Star Game.
After the American Basketball League abruptly folded, Phillip was selected by her hometown team, the Orlando Miracle in the first round (eighth overall) of the Women's National Basketball Association Draft on May 4, 1999.
After her Women's National Basketball Association rookie season in 1999, she was selected by the Portland Fire in the Women's National Basketball Association"s Expansion Draft in December 1999, but she was later traded to the New York Liberty just prior to the start of the Women's National Basketball Association"s 2000 season. She played with the Liberty from 2000 to 2004.
After the 2004 season ended, she became an unrestricted free agent and signed with the Houston Comets for the 2005 Women's National Basketball Association season. The Comets waived Phillips July 2, 2007.
She was named to the team as a replacement for the injured Tina Thompson.
Phillips was named to the United States of America team for the 1993 World University Games competition in Buffalo, New New York Phillips was the leading scorer in several games including 25 points against Japan and 23 against China. Phillips was the overall leading scorer for the team, averaging 18.8 points per game and led the team in rebounding with 11.0 per game.
Phillips was selected to represent the United States of America at the 1995 United States of America Women"s Pan American Games, however, only four teams committed to participate, so the event was cancelled.
In 2002, Phillips was named to the national team which competed in the World Championships in Zhangjiagang, Changzhou and Nanjing, China. The team was coached by Van Chancellor.
Phillips scored 3.3 points per game.