Kamryn Cantwell still gets people coming up to her and asking what she’s up to despite her living back in Bowie since last September.
That was when the 23-year-old was going back for her fifth year at Southeastern Oklahoma State University to play basketball. However, her plans soon changed.
“I was two weeks into practice and we had a 6 a.m. workout. We were probably two plays into pick-up and I tore my ACL,” Cantwell said. “I knew immediately that’s what I did because I already had suffered the injury. So immediately I was like, I already know what I just did.”
It was not the first time Cantwell had suffered an injury while in college. She dealt with a stress fracture in her hip that led to her missing the second half of her freshman season in college. Two years later a nagging hamstring injury kept her out of about half her junior season though she made it back for the big games in the conference tournament.
But this was a familiar injury she had back as a sophomore in high school, where she tore the same ACL that caused her to miss a year. Having previously suffered from the same injury, she knew what was ahead of her.
Theoretically, Cantwell could have used a medical redshirt to get another year of eligibility and would be getting ready to suit up for the Savage Storm one last time if she had been working towards that after getting surgery.
She was already working on borrowed time anyway.
COVID-19 had given her and all college athletes an extra year of eligibility and she was planning to use that time to work on a minor in psychology after already earning her four-year degree in health and human performance.
But she decided against it after thinking about it in the months that followed as she tried to figure out how she wanted to enter the next phase of her life.
“I had just turned 23 right when that happened, so I was like, you know what, I really don’t want to go back for a sixth year and be 24,” Cantwell said. “I’m good. I had a good four years. That’s what helped me decide because I had the best four years.”
Cantwell leaves Southeastern as one of only 14 players who scored more than 1,000 career points.
She started all 87 games she played for the Savage Storm at the demanding point guard position and averaged 15.6 points, 5.5 rebounds and 3.2 assists per game while shooting 46.8% from the field and 39.6% from 3-point range.
She was named first team all-conference her sophomore and junior year and was honorable mention her senior year.
In her sophomore year, she helped lead Southeastern to the Great American Conference tournament championship where she was named the tournament’s most valuable player.
The Savage Storm was invited to play in the NCAA DII tournament that year, but unfortunately COVID-19 shut it down before it could get started.
“That’s one of my proudest years because no one outside sees all the work we put in,” Cantwell said. “When you go to college, that’s what you want. You want to experience that. The awesome group I got to experience that with made it 10 times better. There’s nothing more fun than winning with people you truly enjoy.”

To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekend edition of the Bowie News.