Alex Balara

Title

Assistant Coach

Assistant Coach         Alex Balara (2nd season)
High School:                 Gloucester Catholic
College:                         Elmira College (2015)
Major:                            Speech and Language Disabilities

Alexandra “Alex” Balara returns to the Rutgers-Camden coaching staff for her second season after a two-year absence. During her maiden season on the Raptors’ staff (2015-16), she joined her father Marc, who completed his fifth year as a Rutgers-Camden assistant coach in 2017-18.

A former basketball star at Gloucester Catholic High School and Elmira College, Balara scored over 800 career points during her four-year career with the Soaring Eagles. She graduated Elmira College in 2015 with a cumulative 3.5 GPA and a degree in Speech and Language Disabilities. She also was a Trustee Scholar.

A four-year starter at Elmira, Balara served as the Soaring Eagles’ team captain during the 2014-15 season. She earned Empire 8 Second Team honors on the court and received the 2015 Empire 8 Academic President’s Award, an honor given to student-athletes maintaining a 3.75 or higher GPA while participating in a conference-sponsored sport.

Balara became only the third player in Elmira history to produce both 200 steals and 200 assists for her career, finishing with totals of 231 and 200, respectively. She ranks second in career steals and third in steals per game (2.4) in Elmira history. She also finished seventh on the career list for assists and successful free throws (206). She shot a blistering 206-for-272 (.757) for her career.

During her senior season in 2014-15, Balara started all 21 of her games and led the Soaring Eagles with 64 steals and a .770 free throw percentage (77-for-100). She finished second on the team in scoring (14.0 ppg), rebounding (6.4 rpg) and assists (47), while ranking third with 15 blocked shots. She produced 16 games scoring in double figures, including five 20-point games. She notched her career high of 29 points against Houghton College (Feb. 17), while adding 11 rebounds for the first of her two double-doubles on the season. She closed her career scoring 17 points and grabbing 16 boards against Alfred University (Feb. 21). In a game against Penn College (Feb. 9), she notched 25 points, seven steals, seven assists and seven rebounds, while also blocking two shots.

A scholastic star at Gloucester Catholic High School, Balara was a team MVP for the Rams. She also received Academic Excellence and Scholar Athlete awards.