Samuels Chosen As WBCA NCAA Division III Public Schools Women’s Player Of The Year
UW-Oshkosh senior center Isabella Samuels was selected as the 2019 NCAA Division III Public Schools Women's Player of the Year by the Wisconsin Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA).
Samuels helped lead the Titans to a 26-4 record during the 2018-19 campaign and an appearance in the third round of the Division III Championship. An All-Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) First Team selection this season, Samuels led UW-Oshkosh by averaging a team-leading 9.8 points per game and shooting 69.1 percent from the field. Her field goal percentage ranked second in WIAC history.
Samuels, who garnered All-Central Region Third Team honors from D3hoops.com, registered 13 double-digit scoring performances this season, including a career-high 23 points on 8-for-10 shooting from the floor against UW-Whitewater on Feb. 4 and 22 points on 11 of 12 shooting from the field during the Titans' home victory over Pomona-Pitzer Colleges (Calif.) in the opening round of the NCAA tournament March 1.
In UW-Oshkosh's nine games between Feb. 4 through March 2, Samuels averaged 13.9 points per contest and shot 55-for-68 from the field for an .809 field goal percentage as the Titans clinched the WIAC regular season championship, claimed the league postseason crown and won the Oshkosh Regional during the span.
Samuels concluded her career with 750 points in 110 games. Her career .635 field goal percentage ranks third among all active Division III women's players.
Samuels and the Titans won both the WIAC regular season and tournament titles in the same season for the second time and first since the league postseason tournament debuted in 1999.
UW-Oshkosh, which earned its league-leading 13th WIAC regular season championship, won the Division III Oshkosh Regional title and advanced to third round of the NCAA tournament for the third time in the past six years.
The Titans, who won at least 20 games each of the past seven seasons, compiled a 96-20 record during Samuels' four seasons to go along with two conference regular season titles, a pair of league tournament championships and three trips to the NCAA postseason. Samuels and the Titans also reached the third round of the Division III Championship in 2017 and the second round in 2016.
The 2019 WBCA Women's Players of the Year also included University of Wisconsin's Marsha Howard in Division I, Lewis University's (Ill.) Jessica Kelliher in Division II, Wisconsin Lutheran College's Jen Dowden in Division III Private Schools and University of Milwaukee-Waukesha's Aleah Herron in Junior College.