Oregon State Women's Basketball Receives Massive Donation
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The Oregon State Beavers Women’s basketball team received some great news this past week as the program saw a donation of $3 million come in to support their program through the new era of collegiate sports.
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The Donation, made by longtime Beaver fans Wayne and Marta von Borstel, will allow the Beavers women’s basketball team to not only retain the talent on their team from leaving and hitting the portal, but it will allow them to recruit more prestigious players around the country.
The donation in itself is a credit to the work head coach Scott Rueck has done this season and in the past. Rueck has taken the Beavers to 21+ win seasons in two of the last three seasons. However, lost in the mess of the NIL era is what Rueck has had to deal with himself.
Rueck has lost multiple starters to the transfer portal year over year in his time with the Beavers, and yet has continued to bring them to the NCAA tournament and on deep runs in the WCC tournament.
"We are enormously grateful to Marta and Wayne for this gift. Investments like this provide the foundational financial framework necessary to sustain excellence in our women's basketball program and support the holistic development of our student-athletes at the highest level," OSU AD Scott Barnes said in a statement. "The impact of this endowment will be felt not only by the student-athletes who represent Oregon State today, but by those who will wear the Beaver uniform for decades to come."
Rueck himself is a reason why the donation was made. Donor Wayne von Borstel had praise for Rueck in a recent press release when discussing his financial donation.
"We created this endowment because Coach Rueck represents what coaching should be about: integrity, commitment and doing things the right way,” von Borstel noted.
The Beavers and Rueck are two seasons from making the NCAA tournament regional final, and one year removed from returning to the tournament after Rueck lost several key players to the transfer portal. With a $3 million dollar endowment to the program, Rueck and the Beavers have the resources to continue their successful run of form into the new Pac-12 Conference.
Rueck and the Beavers continue their 2025-2026 season on Monday, March 9 in Las Vegas with a matchup against Loyola Marymount. Tipoff is scheduled for 12 p.m. ET on ESPN+.
Kyle is a 2019 graduate of Southern Oregon University and currently does play-by-play for SOU football and men’s and women’s soccer. He hosts a daily sports show in southern Oregon on The Ace Sports Radio, 107.9 FM and 1300 AM. Kyle also does play-by-play for the Rogue Valley Royals hockey team and the North Medford High School Black Tornado for TableRockSports.net. Kyle lives in Ashland, Oregon with his wife and a Dalmatian named Penny.