In every senior’s mind, they envision their final game on their home floor to be one of, if not their best performances of their career.
For Bowling Green women’s basketball’s Morgan Sharps, her last hurrah at the Stroh Center was one basket away from being her best.
“Throughout the game, I was just feeling it; obviously I was super hype, and just my last game at sure I had to go out with a bang,” said Sharps.
Sharps ended Saturday’s 66-47 win for BGSU over Miami with 29 points on 11-22 shooting from the field, knocking down seven threes in the process.
“I haven’t been shooting super well the past couple games so I really was focused on holding my follow through, taking good shots and then just finding my flow on offense,” said Sharps. “Then once the first shot goes in, it’s kind of wraps from there.”
BG came into the contest looking for revenge from their 56-47 loss to the RedHawks back on Jan. 20 in Oxford, where BG scored the second-fewest points in a game this season (Indiana- 35).
Sharps was not about to let that happen, scoring 18 of her 29 points in the first half, including four of those seven threes in the second quarter alone, a quarter BG outscored Miami 21-11.
Another formidable force on both ends of the floor for the orange and brown was Erika Porter, who ended the day with her sixth double-double of the season with 15 points and 15 rebounds.
A majority of those 15 points for Porter were via second-chance opportunities, something BG earned 15 points out off thanks in large part to 14 offensive rebounds as a team.
“I thought we played one of our better games all season on both sides of the ball,” said head coach Fred Chmiel. “Defensively there’s a a lot of communication in the zone, identifying shooters, some defensive rebounding and we didn’t give up a lot of second chance points.”
The win for BGSU also clinched themselves a spot officially in the Mid-American Conference tournament, held in Cleveland, on March 13-16.
But for now, that is not what matters. What does?
Ending a group of seniors’ home careers the right way.
“It’s just such a great atmosphere to be here in Stroh- the community and just women’s basketball fans surrounding us is just so awesome,” said Olivia Hill. “I truly think that there’s no better fans out there.”
“I would remember that they’re great people,” said Chmiel about his senior class. “I would remember that I never sat at my desk and and worried about what they were doing on campus, worried about whether they were going to class or not, worried about whether they were going to come to practice with energy, worried about whether or not they were going to talk back to the coaching staff. “I never worried- they’re great people. They are great people and as great people you know you’ll be successful in whatever walk of life you take.”
Bowling Green wraps up the regular season next week with a pair of road matchups, starting off in Kalamazoo on Wednesday night, March 6, with the Western Michigan Broncos. From there, the team will head to Ypsilanti to face the Eastern Michigan Eagles on Saturday, March 9.
Join Falcon Media Sports Network’s Brandon Loe for the call of both games on 88.1 FM WBGU, with tip-off on Wednesday night scheduled for 7 p.m.
For more stories related to BGSU Athletics, follow Falcon Media Sports Network on X (@bg_fmsn).
