Zoë Unruh Named Women's Basketball Elite 88 Award Winner

Bloomington, Ill., March 18, 2010 – Senior guard Zoë Unruh of the Washington University in St. Louis women’s basketball team was named the Elite 88 winner at the 2010 NCAA Division III Women’s Basketball Final Four banquet on Thursday, March 18, at the Chateau Hotel in Bloomington, Ill.

The Elite 88, an award founded by the NCAA, recognizes the individual who has reached the pinnacle of competition at the national championship level, while also achieving the highest academic standard among their peers. The Elite 88 is presented to the student-athlete with the highest cumulative grade-point average participating at the finals site for each of the NCAA’s 88 championships.

Unruh is Washington University’s second Elite 88 recipient in 2010. She has a 3.88 grade point average while majoring in environmental studies.

Unruh leads Washington University in scoring at 12 points per game, and she is one of the best three-point shooters in the country, hitting long-range shots at a 40.8 percent clip, which ranks 18th in Division III, and she averages 2.2 threes per game. The D3hoops.com second-team all central region honoree scored a career-high 31 points on a career-best eight threes in the Bears’ 81-67 NCAA opening-round victory over Maryville College on March 6, in Crestview Hills, Ky.

Washington University is making its NCAA Division III record ninth appearance in the Final Four and the women’s basketball team has advanced to championship weekend for the third time over the last four seasons, and second in a row. The Bears are tied with the University of Scranton for the most tournament wins in NCAA Division III postseason history at 53.

Sixth-ranked Washington U. (27-2) will face No. 1 Amherst College in the national semifinal on Friday, March 19, at the Shirk Center on the campus of Illinois Wesleyan University in Bloomington, Ill., at 5 p.m. No. 4 Hope College and the University of Rochester will meet in the other semifinal at 7 p.m.