HARRISONBURG, Va. --- EMU women's basketball player Jess Rheinheimer (Manheim, Pa./Lancaster Mennonite) has won the prestigious Jostens Trophy. The award goes to just one women's and men's NCAA Division III basketball player who excels on the floor, in the classroom and in the community.
The award takes into account three vital parts: basketball ability, academic prowess and community service. The trophy models the Rotary International motto of "Service Above Self" by recognizing those who truly fit the ideal of the well-rounded NCAA Division III student-athlete.
Rheinheimer was the only junior in the field of 10 women's finalists and just the second junior ever to win the award. The awards presentation is next Thursday at the Salem Civic Center in conjunction with the NCAA Division III men's basketball semifinals and championship in Salem, Va., on March 20-21.
A nursing major at EMU, Rheinheimer holds a 3.96 GPA. On the court, she was named the ODAC Player of the Year as well as the ODAC/Virginia Farm Bureau Mutual Insurance Scholar-Athlete of the Year. She led the Royals into the second round of the NCAA National Tournament, averaging 20.0 points and 7.8 rebounds per game.
A versatile forward, Rheinheimer topped the Old Dominion Athletic Conference in scoring and was ninth in rebounding. She was also fourth in the league with a 39.9% three-point field goal percentage and eighth with 26 blocks. She was named the USBWA National Player of the Week after scoring 29 and 41 points in back-to-back games during the season. The junior also became EMU's 13th woman to score 1000 career points, joining the club in the Royals' ODAC Tournament Semifinal game on Feb. 28.
She was also named Capitol One Academic All-America First Team, a distinction given to only five women in D-III. Rheinheimer is an EMU Honors Student and a member of the EMU Student Nurses Association. She studied in Honduras in the summer of 2013 as part of Eastern Mennonite's cross cultural program, and has been a volunteer with various organizations in Honduras, Kentucky, New York and her home state of Pennsylvania.
Rheinheimer is the first Jostens Trophy winner from either Eastern Mennonite University basketball program in the 18-year history of the award. The most recent ODAC winner was Randolph College's Colton Hunt in 2013. The last ODAC woman to win the trophy was Megan Silva from Randolph-Macon in 2006.
Rheinheimer helped lead the Eastern Mennonite women to just their second NCAA National Tournament win in program history, a 77-76 decision over La Roche College last Friday. The Royals lost to No. 1 Thomas More in the Second Round, 85-65, finishing the year at 23-5.
Additional information on the Jostens Trophy can be found at http://www.odaconline.com/jostens
--- This release is courtesy of the Eastern Mennonite University sports information department. ---
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