Scott Rueck Selected is the RUSSELL ATHLETIC/WBCA National NCAA Division III Coach of the Year

Rueck has 19 years of coaching experience, 13 of which have been spent coaching the George Fox University Bruins. During his tenure at George Fox, his teams have made eight post-season playoff appearances, six NCAA Division III Tournament appearances and this year earned a trip to the NCAA Division III Final Four®. The Bruins are slated to play The College of New Jersey on March 20, in Holland, Mich.

Rueck has been named Northwest Conference Coach of the Year five times and last season he was honored as the NCAA Division III West Region Coach of the Year by d3hoops.com. Off the court, Rueck has served as the West Region representative for the USA Today ESPN Division III Top 25 Coaches’ Poll. He also has been running the Bruin Basketball Academy for over nine years and is in his fourth year as site director of the NRC Camps held at George Fox. When he isn’t coaching he can be found teaching health and development classes for the school.

The College of New Jersey’s Hillary Klimowicz has been named the State Farm/WBCA National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III Player of the Year.

Klimowicz, a 6-foot-3 center, was recently named the New Jersey Athletic Conference Player of the Year for the second straight season, while also garnering First Team All-NJAC honors for the third consecutive year. The Scotch Plains, N.J., native leads the NJAC in scoring (20.1 ppg) and rebounding (10.8 rpg) and is the national leader in field-goal percentage, connecting on 69 percent of her shots (213-for-313). In addition, the senior is second in the nation in blocks, swatting 4.2 per contest.

Also adding to her honors this season, Klimowicz was named to the CoSIDA ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America All-District II Second Team and is a finalist for the Jostens Trophy. She was named the NJAC Player of the Week on seven occasions this season, ECAC Metro Player of the Week three times and part of d3hoops.com Team of the Week twice. Earlier this season she established TCNJ’s single-game scoring record with a 35-point performance in a victory over William Paterson.

In her career at TCNJ, she has accumulated 1,369 points and 811 rebounds, which both rank second all-time in program history. Klimowicz has played in just 81 games at TCNJ as she transferred from St. Joseph’s University after the 2007 season. Overall in her career, she has 1,644 points and 1,037 rebounds.

Klimowicz has led her TCNJ team to a record-breaking 27-4 record this season (11-2 NJAC)

The members of the 2009 NCAA Division III State Farm Coaches’ All-America Basketball Team are:

Leigh Ann Burke - DeSales Univ. - Sr.
Jaclyn Daigneault - Amherst College - Soph.
Hillary Klimowicz - The College of New Jersey - Sr.
Katie Kulavic - Oglethorpe Univ. - Sr.
Jessica McEntee - New York Univ. - Sr.
Ashley McFetridge - Eastern Connecticut St. Univ. - Sr.
Megan Scheele - Edgewood College - Sr.
Claire Sheehan - Illinois Wesleyan Univ. - Sr.
Carrie Snikkers - Hope College - Soph.
Keli Ward - York College - Sr.