Rueck, Hamblin Up For Oregon Sports Awards
CORVALLIS – Oregon State women’s basketball head coach Scott Rueck and center Ruth Hamblin have both been nominated for Oregon Sports Awards. Rueck is one of three finalists for Slats Gill Sportsperson of the Year, which is awarded to the state’s top coach. Hamblin has been nominated for Bill Hayward Amateur Athlete of the Year.
Fans can vote online here for all of the Oregon Sports Awards until Monday June 8. The fan vote will be combined with a statewide voting panel consisting of TV, radio and print personalities, plus respected sports professionals. The awards will be announced on June 11 at Nike World Headquarters.
Rueck, who was named to the Team USA coaching staff for this summer’s Pan-American Games in April, led the Beavers to their best season in history, as Oregon State set a school record with 27 wins en route to the program’s first ever Pac-12 title. Along the way Oregon State proved it could beat the nation’s best teams and under Rueck took down North Carolina on the road, swept Arizona State and defeated California. The Beavers were in the national rankings throughout the season, moving as high as No. 7 before ending the regular season ranked 10th. Oregon State ranked in the top 25 in the country in eleven different statistical categories, including fifth in assists per game (18.6), ninth in field goal percentage (45.4) and 13th in field goal percentage defense (35.2). The historic season led to an increase in attendance, as the Beavers averaged a Pac-12 leading 4,167 fans per game, and welcomed 7,652 fans to Gill Coliseum for the Civil War on Jan. 9, the third-largest crowd in school history.
Rueck, who was named Pac-12 Coach of the Year by both the coaches and the media and has earned back-to-back WBCA Region 8 Coach of the year honors, has helped engineer an incredible turnaround in the program, since taking over in 2010. The Beavers earned their first NCAA Tournament appearance since 1996 last season, and made it to the second round of the tourney for the second season in a row this year. Under his guidance, the Beavers led the Pac-12 with three All-Conference honorees this season (Hamblin, Jamie Weisner and Sydney Wiese), and led the conference with four Players of the Week.
Hamblin earned numerous honors for her performance with the Beavers this season, including AP Third Team All-America, Pac-12 Player of the Year (Media), Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year (Media and Coaches), All-Pac-12 (Media and Coaches) and Pac-12 All-Academic First Team honors. The Mechanical Engineering major averaged 12.9 points per game, and pulled down 8.6 rebounds per contest. Her total of 122 blocks this season was good for seventh in the nation and first in the conference. The 6-foot-6 Canadian is Oregon State’s all-time leader in career blocks with 295. Her career field goal percentage of 56.4 is good for third in school history, and her 58 percent shooting this year was eighth in the nation.
On April 10, the Beavers announced an international tour to Italy this summer. For more information, click here.
Season ticket deposits for the 2015-16 season are now being accepted. To submit your deposit, please call 800-GOBEAVS or click here.
