Rams' Kylie Meadows to play women's pro basketball in Puerto Rico

Apr. 20—BLUEFIELD, Va. — Bluefield University's Kylie Meadows concluded her college basketball playing career with the Rams at an enviably high level, having led the Appalachian Athletic Conference women in scoring and earning All-Conference first team status.

Unlike the majority of small college women's basketball players, however, the arc of Meadows' playing career has not yet reached its zenith. She's going on to play women's professional basketball.

Meadows, a 5-foot-11 fifth-year senior who averaged 17.2 points, 8.6 rebounds and 1.8 rebounds per game for the Rams this past season, has signed as a free agent to play for for Montaneras de Morovis (ie. Morovis Mountaineers) in the Baloncesto Superior Nacional Femenino (BSNF) in Puerto Rico.

"I haven't been yet but I have a teammate from Puerto Rico and she said I would love it. It's more like the countryside of Puerto Rico rather than right in the city. and I'd say I'm more of a country person than a city person. But I would go anywhere to play basketball," said Meadows, who majored in Criminal Justice and Law Enforcement Administration at Bluefield University.

"I feel like an underdog, somewhat. I feel like it's not normal for any NAIA women's players to go pro ... or any NAIA athlete. So I feel like an underdog, but I love it. I'm ready to go," Meadows said.

She intends to take the opportunity as far as she can go with it. There are probably many avenues by which she could forge a successful career in women's basketball. But first she wants to play at the highest level she can achieve.

"The biggest of course is the WNBA and that would be like a dream to me ... that would be totally insane. After Puerto Rico I'd say that playing in Europe might be more realistic. But currently, a girl who played for Morovis [Mikyla Pivek] just got into the Atlanta Dream training camp from playing at Morovis," she said.

Meadows has strong ties to Southern West Virginia, but not in a conventional sense.

"l was born in Boise, Idaho but lived in Sandstone (WVa.) from second to seventh grade, moving back to Idaho from seventh grade through graduating high school," Meadows said.

"When I was originally from here, I knew of multiple schools like Bluefield, Bluefield State, Concord and West Virginia Tech. I basically went to Oregon Tech for my freshman and sophomore years. I was looking for a new home and my family had always wanted to move back to West Virginia. So I decided to look for a school in West Virginia. I came up with Bluefield thanks to an assistant coach my junior year," said Meadows.

She played her first two seasons at Bluefield University under Rams women's head coach Corey Mullins, earning her optional fifth season in the NAIA as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. After Mullins was promoted to Athletic Director, the Rams hired Markell Cox to take over the women's program.

Clearly, both coaches had quite an impact on the direction of Meadows' game and profile as a college player. After two seasons at Oregon Tech she'd only scored 211 points at the college level. At the conclusion of this season she'd accumulatied 1,324 points at Bluefield University, crossing the 1,000 point career mark versus Point University on Nov. 5, 2022.

Meadows recorded 11 double-doubles during the 2022-23 season, the 30 point, 12 rebounds she collected in a Nov. 12 game versus Brenau earning her a 'Rammie' Award for the the best individual performance by a female athlete for the school year.

Cox had previous experience transitioning former players to professional basketball. At Urbana he coached all-conference guard and current basketball professional Danie Shafer, for instance. He had a grasp of Meadows' abilities in advance but focused on making his firsthand assessment shortly after arriving.

"When I first got here we sat down and kind of had an assessment and asked, 'What do we want to do? What's the dream job?' and it was to continue playing professionally. I put together a highlight tape for her based on this year to just kind of show her transformation from previous years to more pro-like style ... what they're going to expect of her," Cox said.

"I sent it out to some of my connections and within 48 hours, we had somebody that was very interested. We had a couple of clubs and this is who she felt most comfortable with," he said.

He noted that Meadows is an astute student of the game, continually learning. She'll also have to become a student of the Spanish language in order to maximize the marketing aspects of being a women's player in a Latin league. In the meantime, Cox thinks she could become a fan favorite even before becoming fluent.

""I think she'll be a great face of the team and her play will speak for itself," Cox said.

"She's very blue collar in terms of her work ethic and I think that'll match the people of Morovis, who are very dedicated people."

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