Women's Basketball | 9/27/2018 12:01:00 AM

MONTREAL -- Rikki Bowles has been appointed as a full-time associate coach of the McGill women's basketball program, under the direction of head coach Ryan Thorne.

She becomes the sixth full-time women's coach in McGill varsity sports history, a group that includes bench bosses Rachele Beliveau (volleyball, 1991-present) and Lisen Moore (basketball, 1996 to 2003), in addition to assistant coaches Chelsea Grills (hockey, 2013-14), Alyssa Cecere (hockey, 2014-present) and Kelsey Wilson (soccer, 2018-present). Another full-time appointment, for women's volleyball, is expected to be announced in the near future.

Bowles, a native of East Farnham, Que., returns to the team after a one-year stint as head coach at Vanier College. She was also a head coach at College Brébeuf and an assistant for the provincial under-15 team in 2013-14.

Bowles previously served as an assistant coach at McGill from 2011 to 2017. During her six seasons behind the McGill bench, the Martlets won six conference crowns and one Bronze Baby national championship while posting a 76-20 regular season record and a 138-54 mark overall.

No stranger in the Quebec basketball community, she played CEGEP ball at John Abbott College prior to a five-year university career as a 5-foot-3 guard at McGill, where she studied physical education from 2005 to 2010. After graduating, Bowles served as a full-time physical education teacher and head coach at The Study, a private high school in the Greater Montreal Athletic Association.