Background
She was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Tillis is the daughter of former Heavyweight boxer James Tillis.
She was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Tillis is the daughter of former Heavyweight boxer James Tillis.
Tillis played for Cascia Preparatory School in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where she was named a WBCA All-American. She participated in the 2000 WBCA High School All-America Game where she scored five points.
Tillis is the daughter of former Heavyweight boxer James Tillis. James Tillis fought for the Heavyweight championship once and was the first professional boxer to fight Mike Tyson to a decision.
Tillis has played in the Women's National Basketball Association with the Detroit Shock, New York Liberty, and Los Angeles Sparks, appearing in 66 games. She played collegiately for Duke University, where she was named an All-America in 2003 and on the All-Administrative Committee on Company-ordination first team from 2002 to 2004. Tillis has also played professionally in Europe.
A scandal erupted in France, where Tarbes Gespe Bigorre attempted to sign Tillis to replace injured star Isabelle Yacoubou despite being over the eligible limit of non-European players imposed by the Ligue Féminine de Basketball.
Tarbes was forced to sell Tillis to TTT Riga in Riga, Latvia, where she made the Euroleague"s all-star team in 2008. Tillis was named to the team representing the United States of America at the 2003 Pan American Games.
They then faced Cuba for the gold medal, falling short 75–64 to take home the silver medal. Tillis averaged 5.0 points per game.