Taylor Ruper Breaks 3pt Record and Earns Scholar Athlete of the Week!

University of Akron junior guard Taylor Ruper has been named Mid-American Conference Female Scholar Athlete of the Week, the league office announced on Thursday.

Ruper wins the award after becoming Akron's career leader in 3-pointers made in Saturday's 96-82 MAC Tournament first round win over Buffalo at Rhodes Arena. Ruper made 6-of-8 threes in the game, giving her 184 treys in her career and breaking the previous record of 183 held by Michelle Chavanne (1993-97). Ruper sets the mark in just her 88th career game, while Chavanne's mark took 101 games. In all, Ruper scored 20 points in the tournament win. In the regular season finale last Tuesday (Feb. 28) – also against Buffalo – the sharpshooter poured in 17 points to lead Akron to a 78-69 senior night victory. Ruper averaged 18.5 points in her two games last week and was 10-of-19 (.526) on 3-pointers.

Ruper is an excellent student who holds a 3.76 grade point average in her finance program.

All-MAC Honors for Sina King and Taylor Ruper

University of Akron sophomore forward Sina King has been named Second Team All-Mid-American Conference, has announced by the league office on Tuesday.
Also honored Tuesday was junior guard Taylor Ruper, who was named Honorable Mention All-MAC.

King leads Akron in both scoring and rebounding this season, averaging 12.6 points and 6.3 rebounds per contest. In conference games, those numbers rise to 13.9 points and 7.4 rebounds per match. King has shot an impressive 48.7-percent from the field this season, ranking her fifth in the conference in the statistic. In addition to her strong overall shooting percentage, King is also a threat from the outside and is making 34.6-percent (18-of-52) of her 3-point shots this year. The Waterford, Ohio native has tallied five double-doubles on the year, with four of those performances coming in conference play.

"I'm really happy for Sina, she is well deserving of this award," sixth-year Akron coach Jodi Kest said. "Sina has had to play two different positions this season and she really stepped up for us after Rachel Tecca was injured in December. Sina has put in a tremendous amount of work to improve her outside shot and her overall strength and I am extremely pleased her hard work is paying off."

Ruper earns an honorable mention nod for having one of the best 3-point shooting seasons in MAC history. Ruper is averaging 10.5 points per game this season and is shooting 38.9-percent (89-of-229) from behind the arc. Ruper became Akron's career leader in 3-pointers made in Saturday's MAC Tournament first round win over Buffalo. Ruper has made 184 3-pointers in her 88 game career, topping the previous mark of 183 set by Michelle Chavanne from 1993-97. Ruper ranks 13th in the country in 3-pointers made per game (2.9) this season and 24th nationally in 3-point shooting percentage.

"Taylor is not only one of the best shooters in the conference, but one of the best in the country," Kest said. "This honor is a testament to her scoring ability."

Coach Kest Earns 300th Win

A scorching hot offensive performance in the first half boosted The University of Akron women's basketball team to a 96-82 win over Buffalo in the first round of the Mid-American Conference Tournament on Saturday at Rhodes Arena.

Kest improves her career coaching record to 300-262 (.534) with the win and is now six wins shy of becoming Akron's all-time wins leader.