Kacie Sowell was not Head Basketball Coach Bonvicini’s (Coach B) choice athlete in the tournament Coach B attended Kacie’s senior year of high school. Coach B instead went to watch another player and was informed that there was a post (Sowell) who had not yet been picked up by a team. It was at this point that Coach B saw Sowell and, “almost fell off my bleacher.” Since the moment Seattle University basketball became present in Sowell’s life, she has made a tremendous mark. As one of a few women who listened to Coach B’s vision for the then Division II Seattle U and believed in it, Sowell joined the team ready to make an impact. And she has done just that. Among her innumerable accomplishments,

Sowell was recently named to the 12th annual Division I-AAA Athletics Directors Association Scholar-Athlete Team. For the second year in a row. To earn a nomination for such a prestigious award, athletes must have surpassed junior standing, have a GPA minimum of 3.20 and competed in 50 or more percent of the team’s games. In addition to her most recent accomplishment, Sowell will be ending her collegiate career as the fourth player in Seattle U’s history to pass 1000 rebounds and the 12th to make 1000 points. She is a two-time First Team All-Conference and WAC All-Tournament team honoree, a candidate for the Senior CLASS Award and was named to both the WBCA All-Region 7 Team and the WBCA’s Allstate Good Work’s Team. Even if you do not have the slightest idea about the sport of basketball, what a rebound is, or what it takes to be a student-athlete the sheer mouthful of statistics one is required to spew when Sowell’s name is brought up is testament enough to her success at Seattle U. Coach Bonvicini attests to Sowell’s impact on the team by saying, “She came to Seattle U on the vision that I had because at that time we weren’t even division I. we weren’t even in a conference, but she believed in the vision that I had for the program…I felt like she thought she could make a difference, and she really has. She really has changed the program for the team. She has set the bar high and is someone we will constantly use as a reference to the team.” Sowell attributes her success to her ability to make a habit of studying on the busiest of days. “I will definitely miss my team when I leave Seattle,” said Sowell, as she talked about the end of her Seattle U career. “There is something very special about being a member of a team, where those people become your family. There are also a number of people in the SU athletics department who have helped me tremendously throughout my career and I will miss being a part of SU family.” Coach Bonvicini sums it up best saying that Sowell is “a true model of what a student-athlete should be” and will be missed on the ever advancing Redhawk team.