Wolverines Add Rooks as Graduate Transfer for 2018-19
5/14/2018 3:07:00 PM | Women's Basketball
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- University of Michigan women's basketball head coach Kim Barnes Arico announced Monday (May 14) the addition of graduate transfer Taylor Rooks to the 2018-19 roster. Rooks graduated from Harvard with a degree in economics and will have one year of eligibility with the Maize and Blue.
"We are thrilled to add Taylor to our program," Barnes Arico said. "She is a strong, athletic player who can really impact the game on both ends of the floor. We recruited her out of high school, so we are very familiar with her and her family. I have spent a lot of time watching her play and know what she can immediately bring to our program. Taylor really values and embodies what the University of Michigan is all about, both academically and athletically. We know she is going to be a great addition for us."
"The University of Michigan allows me to continue my efforts to combine the best academic foundation with excellent athletics," Rooks said. "This combination is key to my development as a student-athlete as well as my focus on life after sports."
Rooks, a 6-foot guard, spent the last three seasons at Harvard after her freshman season at Stanford. As a senior this past winter, Rooks earned second-team All-Ivy honors after averaging 12.5 points and 7.3 rebounds in 29.5 minutes per game. Rooks shot 47.7 percent from the floor, 34.1 percent from three-point range and 86.3 percent at the free throw line in 2017-18. She recorded six double-doubles this past season while ranking second on the team in rebounding. She also tallied five 20-point games, including a career-high 24 against Brown on Jan. 27.
After sitting out the 2015-16 season due to transfer rules, Rooks saw action in all 30 games as a junior in 2016-17. She averaged 5.9 points and 3.8 rebounds per game with seven double-figure scoring outputs.
She began her collegiate career at Stanford, seeing action in 12 games in 2014-15 before transferring to Harvard.
Rooks graduated from Gill St. Bernard's School in Gladstone, New Jersey, where she was a 2014 Parade All-American. She was a two-time New Jersey Gatorade Player of the Year (2013 and 2014) while earning all-state honors twice. She was a five-star recruit by HoopGurlz and the No. 18-ranked player in the 2014 class.
