COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.-On Friday evening prior to tip-off of the first semifinal at the RMAC Men's Basketball Tournament in Grand Junction, Colorado, Black Hills State University sophomore guard Tess Rule was recognized as the 2025-26 recipient of the Summit Award in the sport of women's basketball. Tess Rule is BHSU's first women's basketball Summit Award winner since the 2017-18 season when Cortez Standing Bear won the award.

Rule is sitting with a  4.00 GPA while majoring in exercise science. She has competed in all 28 games for the Yellow Jackets this season averaging 10.5 minutes per game. Rule averaged 1.6 points per game and 2.6 rebounds per game while scoring a career-high seven points in a win over Regis earlier this year. She finished with 67 rebounds. 24 of those came within a three game stretch earlier this season including a career-high nine rebounds versus PUCPR. She has scored points in 14 of 28 games and has three games this year with over 20 minutes played.

The RMAC's Summit Award is presented to the student-athlete with the highest cumulative GPA competing at the finals site of their respective sport's championship. Summit Award winners must compete in 20 percent of available competitions throughout the current season. All GPAs are based on a straight-grading scale to ensure consistency among nominees. All ties are broken by the total number of credit hours completed through the most recently concluded semester.

To be eligible for the award, student-athletes must be sophomores or above and have participated in their sport at their institution for at least two years. They must also be active members of their teams and travel to and compete at the RMAC championship event.