Friday, March 17, 2023
PORTLAND, Ore. – On her way to joining the professional ranks in Australia, Central Washington’s Samantha Bowman has earned another honor in her home country by being named a First Team All-American by the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association.
Bowman earns first-team honors after a season where she was named the GNAC and D2CCA West Region Player of the Year and led the conference with 22.2 points and 14.9 rebounds per game. Western Washington junior forward Brooke Walling also earned recognition as an honorable mention.
Bowman rewrote the GNAC record book in her final season and ends her collegiate career with 10 conference records, eight of which she set this season. She left arguably her biggest mark on the boards where she finished with 1,219 career rebounds to eclipse the previous record that was set in 2009. She put up the best rebounding performance in conference history this season with 31 boards against Whitman on Dec. 17.
Bowman tied her own record for the most double-doubles in a season and is also tied for No. 1 in Division II with 26. She was deadly from the field, knocking down 269 field goals to set a single-season GNAC record and set the conference record for most 30-point games in a season in the process with eight.
Bowman also closes out her time at Central Washington with the GNAC single-season records for rebounds (477) and rebounds per game (15.9) which she set during the 2021-22 campaign. Along with the records on the court, Bowman received conference Player of the Week honors nine times in her career, the most of any women’s basketball player in GNAC history.
Walling led the Vikings with 13.6 points per game while shooting 57.8% from the field to rank ninth in Division II. She was also named the GNAC Championships MVP after leading WWU to its first GNAC title since 2014.
Walling also earned First Team All-GNAC and D2CCA All-West Region honors while notching 11 double-doubles. She was one of the best defensive players in Division II, leading the conference and ranking No. 18 in the division with 1.79 blocks per game. Walling was second only to Bowman in the GNAC with 9.2 rebounds per game.
Walling showed up at the biggest moment of the season for WWU, leading all scorers with 22 points in the GNAC Championships final in Bellingham against Montana State Billings while shooting 10 for 14 from the field. She showed her all-around skillset in that game as well, finishing with eight rebounds, two assists and a block.