BUFFALO, NY - University at Buffalo women's basketball player Kate McMeeken-Ruscoe (Nelson, New Zealand/Hawaii) has been named as the Mid-American Conference Female Scholar Athlete of the Week, the league has announced.

Kate McMeeken-Ruscoe

The senior guard earned the award after averaging 18.0 points, 2.3 rebounds, 5.7 assists and 2.0 steals in the Bulls' three games last week. Included in the week was her first double-double of the season with a game-high 22 points and a career-best 10 assists at Maine on January 4. She also led the Bulls with 15 points against No. 25 Colorado at Alumni Arena on January 2. McMeeken-Ruscoe has surpassed the 600-point plateau for career scoring and currently leads the team with 15.6 points per game and has nailed 90 percent (18-of-20) of her free throw attempts.

McMeeken-Ruscoe graduated Cum Laude with a degree in business management last year and is currently enrolled in UB's rigorous MBA program. She is a UB Scholar Athlete and a member of the MAC Academic Honor Roll who has also participated in a variety of leadership and volunteer activities during her career at UB, including visiting patients at Roswell Park Cancer Institute, reading to inner-city school children and volunteering at Kid's Voting Day. She was also a Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) representative last year and served as the head of SAAC's community service subcommittee. She was also instrumental in beginning UB's Athletes-for-Athletes program.

The MAC Scholar Athlete of the Week honor is presented to a MAC male and female student-athlete who has a cumulative grade point average of 3.0 or better and performs well during that week's competition. The winners are selected by one of the conference's faculty athletic representatives.