Mia Bowen didn’t know she had talent on the basketball court until she was pushed to give it a try.
“I actually fell in love with basketball in the seventh grade,” she said, crediting her youth coach Derek Carter for pushing her to try the sport. “He’d asked me what sport I planned on playing, and I didn’t have one. He said, ‘Nah, somebody your size needs to be playing a sport.’ He got me into basketball at school, and since then I’ve had a love for the game.”
Now a senior at Mississippi University for Women, Bowen has emerged as one of the brightest players on the team after transferring in for her final year, but it wasn’t always easy going for her.
Journey
Bowen grew up in Buena Vista on a family farm, raised by parents Darrell and Marketta Bowen Watkins. She went to school in Shannon before finishing high school in Pontotoc and chose to pursue a degree in biology to set the stage, she hopes, for postgraduate work in veterinary science. Through the sport, she found a way to support herself through school.
“My family has a farm, so we have a whole bunch of animals,” she said. “I pursued it partly because it’s something I’ve known my whole life. We have a little bit of everything, a lot of horses and cows right now, but a lot of people around have goats and hogs. A lot of different animals. I’m working towards becoming a veterinarian, and basketball has gotten me a long way with school.”
She attended Itawamba Community College after graduating from Pontotoc, playing two seasons for the Warriors and earning a chance to play at the Division I level.
Bowen transferred to the University of Arkansas-Little Rock, but the demands became a lot for her to handle. She fell behind in the classroom, and it cost her time on the court. She made just four appearances for the Trojans, and in 2025 she looked for a move closer to home.
“It’s definitely been tough,” she said of moving from school to school. “From the first year as a freshman until this past year, it was tough on me. I found a way to push through it and finish strong.”
New beginnings
Bowen found an opportunity to reset with a familiar face in Eric Vaughn.
The former recruiting coordinator at Mississippi Valley State, now head coach at MUW, recognized Bowen’s potential at a showcase camp when she was in high school and coached her to an MVP finish at the event. Years later, Vaughn was surprised and excited to get a call from Bowen, who was looking for a new home.
“For me, it was an Ephesians 3:20 moment,” he said. “It says ‘God will give you more than you can ask or think,’ and I was saying yes before she could even ask. It was a blessing for me as a coach and for the program. She is already making a huge impact, breaking season and career records.”
At The W, Bowen was offered an opportunity to get back on track with her basketball as well as her studies and do so a little bit closer to home.
“It was very important to me,” she said when discussing the opportunity to play again. “At my last school, I didn’t really get a chance to play because of my academics. Here, (Coach Vaughn) has given me a chance to showcase my talent, and I’ve also gotten my grades together here.”
Bowen feels as though she’s found momentum in all aspects of life at The W. She earned a spot on the fall semester Honor Roll and became an irreplaceable contributor for the Owls on the court.
“She did enough to get by, and then a light came on for Mia,” Vaugn said. “She’s thrived on and off the court, and to be honest, The W is that type of place where you can come and get it together. It’s conducive for people to do well academically, it’s just the right size for people to thrive, and Mia is thriving.”
The senior transfer has 53 blocks through 14 games, shattering the previous program career, single-season and single-game records in the process. She also averages 18.8 points and 9.6 rebounds per game.
“(Defense) has always been a part of my game,” she said. “I actually picked it up from playing volleyball. I was always tall, and didn’t have good foot movement, so I developed that my freshman year of high school working with my coaches.”
The team struggled to pick up wins against a harsh nonconference schedule but is now riding a three-game winning streak in conference play thanks in part to Bowen’s play, combining with veteran players Conley Langford and Calysia Phillips to form a team on the rise.
With just a 4-10 record, there is still plenty of improvement ahead, but Bowen feels the team gathering momentum as a collective, just as she feels it for herself individually.
“It’s been an amazing experience so far, from the time I got here to now,” Bowen said. “I don’t know what it is, but we’re finally getting it together. And we don’t want to play our best basketball, we want to play it the second half of the semester, and I think we’re finding that right now.”
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You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 41 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
