LEXINGTON, Ky. — The Bowling Green State University women’s basketball team ended the 2021-22 season on a winning note, topping Nevada by a 73-65 final on Sunday evening.
The win came in the third-place match at the Women’s Basketball Invitational (WBI), inside the Clive M. Beck Center on the campus of Transylvania University.
BGSU senior Kadie Hempfling led all players with 19 points, going 6-for-8 from the field including a 3-for-4 performance from three-point range.
Elissa Brett had 12 points and nine rebounds for the Falcons (17-16), while Morgan Sharps scored 11 points and fifth-year senior Madisen Parker and Jocelyn Tate nine apiece.
Tate had a game-high 11 rebounds, while Hempfling added six assists and three steals to her impressive stat line.
Nevada (20-13) had three players in double figures, led by Da’Ja Hamilton with 15 points.
The Falcons led for over 36 minutes on Sunday, and BGSU led by as many as 16 points late in the first half.
But the Wolf Pack scored the final six points of the second quarter, then crept as close as five points on two third occasions in the third period.
Sharps answered the first Nevada run with a three-pointer, and after the Wolf Pack got to within five once again, Kenzie Lewis knocked down a shot from behind the arc.
The Falcons hit no fewer than seven three-pointers in the third quarter, with the last one coming as the horn sounded. That triple, by Parker, gave BGSU a 60-48 lead after 30 minutes.
The lead grew as high as 15 points in the fourth quarter and remained in double digits for most of the period, until a late Nevada surge produced the final eight-point margin.
The Falcons had a 38-24 rebounding advantage on Sunday, with a 13-2 lead in second-chance points, and the BGSU bench scored 26 points to the Wolf Pack’s 21.
BGSU hit 12 three-pointers in the win, with Hempfling, Parker and Sharps each making three long-distance tries.
Parker made three three-point field goals in her final game to cap a stellar career. Parker finished with a career total of 253 three-pointers made and ranks second on that BGSU career list.
Parker, the school record-holder in career games played, ended her career with 988 points in 149 contests.
As a team, the Falcons made 272 three-point field goals in 2021-22, the second-highest total in program history. The 2009-10 team holds the record with a total of 284 three-pointers made.
BGSU went 2-1 at the WBI, defeating Furman (19-14), 82-61, in the quarterfinals but losing to St. Mary’s (17-15), 76-67, in the semifinals.
Sharps scored a season-high 22 points and the Bowling Green State University women’s basketball team tied the school single-game record for three-pointers made on Friday afternoon.
Sharps hit six triples as the Falcons went 16-of-33 from long distance on the day. The redshirt sophomore paced four players in double figures, as Parker scored 12 points and Hempfling and freshman Amy Velasco added 11 apiece.
In the loss to St. Mary’s, Freshman Amy Velasco led the Falcons with 16 points, while redshirt sophomore Morgan Sharps had 15.
