Sunday, March 19, 2023

PORTLAND, Ore. – The most dominant player in the GNAC and the West Region can now add Division II Player of the Year to her resume.

Central Washington senior center Samantha Bowman was named Sunday as the Division II Conference Commissioners Association’s Ron Lenz Player of the Year and leads selections to the D2CCA Division II Women’s Basketball All-America Team.

The honor is the latest for Bowman, who was named late last week as a Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) First Team All-American. She was also named earlier in the month as the D2CCA West Region Player of the Year and was the unanimous selection of coaches as the GNAC Player of the Year.

Bowman capped off a career of record proportions as she led Central Washington to a 21-9 overall record and the program’s second trip to the NCAA Division II West Regional in as many years. Bowman led the GNAC and ranked sixth in Division II in scoring at 22.2 points per game and is the divisional leader with 11.2 rebounds per game and 446 total rebounds. She also leads Division II in double-doubles (26) and defensive rebounds per game (11.2) and ranks second in the field goals made (269), ninth in field goal attempts (495), and 37th in blocks per game (1.53).

Those 26 double-doubles included just the seventh triple-double in GNAC women’s basketball history, finishing with 15 points, 19 rebounds and 10 assists at Alaska Anchorage on Jan. 12.

Bowman became the GNAC’s career rebounding leader with 1,219 rebounds and finishes her career having set 10 conference records, eight of which she set this season. She set the conference single-game record with 31 rebounds against Whitman on Dec. 17, which tied her for the eighth-best single-game performance in Division II history.

In earning the Ron Lenz Player of the Year honor, Bowman is the first women’s basketball Division II Player of the Year in GNAC history. She is just the second GNAC player to be named a First Team All-American by the D2CCA program and is just the second consensus First Team All-American in conference history. Bowman joins Alisha Breen of Montana State Billings, who earned both distinctions in 2018.

Following the season, Bowman signed a professional contract with the Rockhampton Cyclones of Australia’s National Basketball League. She is expected to join the team for their season opener on Mar. 24.