2020 Jostens Trophy Winner
"Sydney Kopp is the best offensive player I have ever coached," explained DePauw women's basketball head coach Kristin Huffman. "I have been in the coaching profession for over 30 years, serving as head coach at DePauw for the last 27 seasons. I've been blessed with many talented players, past and present, but Sydney is special."
Kopp, a native of Burr Ridge, Ill., will graduate from DePauw as the program's all-time leader in points scored at 1,733. This season, she led Division III in points scored (658) and established new DePauw standards for single-season scoring average (21.9) and three-point field goals made (78). The 2020 North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) Player of the Year and three-time All-NCAC selection scored in double figures in 29 of 30 games played with 17 games of 20 points or more and four contests of better than 30 markers. Kopp set a school-record in a mid-season victory at Ohio Wesleyan University, going 15-of-19 from the field including 8-of-12 from beyond the arc towards 42 points. She also set a school-record with nine three-pointers in a non-conference victory over Illinois Wesleyan University, a game in which she scored the game-winning bucket in the final seconds.
RELATED: DePauw University Release on Sydney Kopp Winning the 2020 Jostens Trophy
“Sydney is a competitor with an unwavering work ethic who is intensely focused on her goals and aspirations," said Stevie Baker Watson, the Associate Vice President of Campus Wellness and Director of Athletics at DePauw. "She is a resilient, high functioning leader for her team and she leaves an indelible mark on our program."
In the classroom, Kopp maintains a 3.75 grade point average as a political science major. Earlier this month, Kopp was named a First Team Academic All-American as selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA). CoSIDA bestowed a further laurel on her resumé as she was tabbed the Academic All-American of the Year for Division III women's basketball. She is the first Tiger to earn such a distinction.
Kopp has been named to the DePauw Dean's List six of seven semesters and selected as a DePauw Honor Scholar, a highly selective program for students who show unusual promise and commitment to the development of the life of the mind. Kopp also is a Chi Alpha Sigma National Scholar Athlete Honor Society inductee.
Kopp volunteers as a court appointed special advocate in which she is assigned to assist a family with a court case involving child support services and Department of Child Services to mediate on behalf of the child's best interest and child's personal desires. Kopp has also volunteered with PeacePlayers International in Belfast, Northern Ireland, where she instructed approximately 150 youth ages 4-16 from Protestant and Catholic backgrounds to use basketball to unite, educate and inspire young people to create a more peaceful world.
As DePauw's Student-Athlete Advisory Committee president, Kopp has organized a biweekly student-athlete counseling group to help reduce the stigma of mental health.
Click HERE for the full release.