CHICAGO, Ill. – Rutgers women's basketball Class of 2016 graduate Kahleah Copper won the 2021 WNBA Championship with the Chicago Sky on Sunday and claimed the WNBA Finals Most Valuable Player award.
 
Copper is the sixth Scarlet Knight to win a WNBA Championship and just the second to earn Finals MVP, joining Cappie Pondexter's 2007 honor. Overall, Rutgers alumni under C. Vivian Stringer have won seven WNBA titles.
 
It is the first WNBA Championship for the Sky, and Copper fueled the title run with averages of 18.6 points on .535 shooting, 7.7 rebounds and 2.0 assists per game during the 2021 WNBA Playoffs. The former Scarlet Knight averaged 17 points and 5.5 rebounds in the four-game Finals series with a .500 shooting percentage, a .364 mark from three-point distance, and 1.3 steals per contest.
 
Copper cemented her new middle name, "Freakin'," with two breakout performances on the game's biggest stage. In Game 1, she went for 21 points and 10 rebounds in a blowout win to help the Sky get off to a good start and steal homecourt. In the pivotal Game 3 with the series tied at 1-1, she netted 22 points, including 20 in a dominant first half.
 
Copper, a first-time WNBA All-Star this season in her sixth year, was selected seventh overall in the 2016 WNBA draft after finishing her college career third on Rutgers' all-time career scoring list with 1,872 points. She led RU to the 2015 NCAA Tournament and earned MVP during the 2014 WNIT Championship run.
 
It is the second major WNBA award for a former Rutgers player in as many years after Betnijah Laney was named the 2020 Most Improved Player with the Atlanta Dream before playing the 2021 season with the New York Liberty. Copper joined her Rutgers Sister as a finalist for the 2020 Most Improved Player award.
 
Copper is one of 21 Scarlet Knights to be drafted by the WNBA and one of six former Rutgers student-athletes on a WNBA roster this season. In all, Scarlet Knights have won seven WNBA championships. Copper joins Chelsea Newton (Sacramento; 2005), Cappie Pondexter (Phoenix; 2007 & 2009), Tammy Sutton-Brown (Indiana; 2012), Essence Carson (Los Angeles; 2016), and Epiphanny Prince (Seattle; 2020) with a WNBA title.
 
 
 
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