University of the Sciences Student-Athlete Spotlight- Melissa Rotz

Melissa Rotz - Women's Basketball

Women’s Basketball player Melissa Rotz will have the distinction of graduating from University of the Sciences with the most individual academic honors ever won by a student-athlete at the institution, earning a dozen such awards over her four year career while performing as the women’s basketball team’s starting point guard.

Topping this list of honors was Melissa’s selection as the Philadelphia Inquirer Area all Academic Women’s Basketball Performer of the Year, an honor that she shared with Swarthmore’s Kathryn Stockbower.  In receiving this honor, Rotz became the third USciences women’s basketball player to earn Performer of the Year honors in the six-year history of the program.  Melissa also was named to the area-All Academic Team for the third time, one of only four area players to earn this honor three times.

The Area-Academic honor was one of several earned by the senior point guard this year.  Rotz was named to the CACC All-Academic Team for the third time, one of only 14 conference women’s basketball players to be a three-time honoree since the program’s inception in 2004-05.  Melissa is also a three-time Division II Athletic director’s Association Academic Achievement Award winner and a two-time CoSIDA Academic All-district honoree.  She was also the CACC’s Student-Athlete of the Month for January 2011.

A four-year starter for the Devils, Rotz helped lead the Devils to a 21-6 season in 2010-11. Melissa ranked eighth in the CACC, averaging 3.44 assists per game and was second in the conference with a 1.62 assist/turnover ratio. She finished her career ranked 11th on the Devils all-time assist list with 273. 

Career wise,  Rotz also finished her career ranked 12th on the Devils all-time list with 50 three-point field goals made and had a career free throw percentage of .719.  Melissa played in 108 games over her career, starting 87 and is one of only four players in the 24-year history of the program to have played in 100 or more games and not foul out of a single contest.

Rotz chose University of the Sciences because of its academic reputation for pharmacy and its location. Named to the university’s Dean’s List ten times, Melissa is pursuing a Doctor of Pharmacy degree and plans on completing a pharmacy residency after graduation and then wants to work as a clinical pharmacist.