WBSK: Shielee and NCAA Champion Bruins Garner Top Honors at Oregon Sports Awards

BEAVERTON, Ore. - Former George Fox University basketball star Kristen Shielee was named the Ad Rutschman Small College Female Athlete of the Year, and the 2008-09 Bruins' team which she led to the NCAA Division III national title was cited as a George Pasero Team of the Year at the 2009 Oregon Sports Awards presented Sunday night here at the Tiger Woods Center on the Nike World Campus.

Shielee moved into the starting lineup in her final season after three years as a reserve and led the Bruins to the NCAA Division III Women's Basketball Final Four for the first time, where she was named the Most Outstanding Player as George Fox won its first national basketball championship.  Along the way, the 6-4 senior from Gresham, Ore., earned Northwest Conference Player of the Year, NCAA Division III West Region Player of the Year, D3hoops.com Second Team All-America, and Rawlings Athletics / Women's Basketball Coaches Association honorable mention All-America honors. 

Shielee averaged 12.2 points and 9.6 rebounds a game while leading the conference in field goal percentage (.626) and blocked shots (122, 3.81 bspg).  She was second nationally in field goal percentage and sixth in blocked shots while leading the conference and setting George Fox records in both categories.  Her .599 career field goal percentage is also a Bruin record.

Now a teacher and professional basketball player in Pamplona, Spain, Shielee was unable to attend the show, but was well-represented by her family, coaches, and teammates.  She had prepared a short acceptance speech on a DVD in case she won, and it was shown on the background video screen at the awards ceremony.

Shielee, the first George Fox athlete to win the Rutschman Award, was named the winner over four other finalists who included Annie Hess of Concordia University (track and field), Kimber Mattox of Willamette University (track and field, soccer, and cross country), Jessica Ramback of Concordia University (soccer), and Jacki Speer of Southern Oregon University (basketball).

The George Fox women's basketball team was a George Pasero Team of the Year winner along with two other national champions, the Northwest Blaze Amateur Softball Association of America under-16 girls' softball team and the University of Oregon NCAA Division I men's indoor track team.  It was the second Team of the Year award for George Fox, the first being the 2004 NCAA Division III national championship-winning baseball team.

The Bruins were unexpected national champions last year as they had entered the season having to replace seven seniors and all five starters from a 2007-08 team that had reached the NCAA's "Sweet 16".  Picked to finish fifth in the Northwest Conference, the Bruins, after going 9-0 in non-conference play, swept through the league with a 16-0 record, winning their fourth straight NWC regular season crown.  After earning an automatic berth into the national tournament by winning the NWC Tournament, the Bruins went 5-0 in the post-season, completing a perfect 32-0 season with a 60-53 win over the storied Washington University-St. Louis program in the title game in Holland, Mich.

George Fox women's basketball head coach Scott Rueck was a finalist for the Slats Gill Sportsperson of the Year, which was won by Chip Kelly, head coach of the Pacific 10 Conference champion University of Oregon football team.  Other finalists included Oregon State head football coach Mike Riley, Oregon head cross country and track and field coach Vin Lananna, and Oregon State head basketball coach Craig Robinson.

 Rueck captured the Northwest Conference Coach of the Year Award for the sixth time, then was named West Region Coach of the Year and National Coach of the Year by both D3hoops and the WBCA for guiding the Bruins to the national championship. A native of Hillsboro, Ore., and a 1991 graduate of Oregon State, he has compiled a record to date of 277-87 (.757) in his 13-plus seasons with the Bruins.  He entered the season ranked 15th among active D-III coaches in winning percentage, and has never had a losing season at George Fox.

This was the 58th year of the state awards show, which began in 1948 as the Hayward Banquet of Champions. It was discontinued after 1996 but returned in 2002, and has been held as the Oregon Sports Awards for the past nine years, with a new, stage-show format and many added award categories.  The event is sponsored by Nike, the Portland Tribune, Comcast SportsNet, Les Schwab Tires, Jeld-Wen Windows & Doors, Portland Trail Blazers, Dick's Sporting Goods and SportsOne.

Comcast SportsNet will air this year's Oregon Sports Awards on several occasions, including Tuesday, Feb., 2, at 8 p.m.; Thursday, Feb. 4, at 6:30 p.m.; Sunday, Feb. 7, at 9 p.m.; Monday, Feb. 8, at 8 a.m.; Friday, Feb. 12, at 9:30 p.m.; and Wednesday, Feb. 17, at 6 p.m.  In addition, the show can be seen via Comcast On Demand beginning Feb. 13.  Comcast Cable of Oregon digital cable customers may view it at no additional charge by going to Channel 1/sports and fitness/Comcast SportsNet/Oregon Sports Awards.